On Friday, an accountability court suspended a hearing on the reference to money laundering against National Assembly opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz due to the unavailability of their lawyer.
A defense attorney, Amjad Pervez, was absent from the courtroom because he was out of the country and would return on December 9.
The court was requested to adjourn the hearing by a representative of the council. Shehbaz and Hamza were also in attendance at the hearing.
The hearing was postponed until December 13 by Presiding Judge Naseem Ahmad Virk, who also directed the NAB to present its witnesses for cross-examination.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) claimed that Shehbaz’s family members and benamidars received fictitious foreign remittances worth billions of dollars into their personal bank accounts. As a result, the bureau claims that billions of rupees were laundered through the use of foreign pay orders, which were then deposited into the personal bank accounts of his sons Hamza and Suleman.
Shehbaz, his wife Nusrat, and their son Hamza had all been indicted in connection with the investigation. Nusrat, who was out of the country at the time of the trial, was admitted to the proceedings through a pleader with the permission of the court.
Another accountability court also postponed hearings in the Ramzan Sugar Mills and Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme cases against Shehbaz, Hamza, and others until December 13, citing scheduling conflicts.
