LAHORE: An accountability court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a money laundering reference against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Chief Minister of Punjab Hamza Shehbaz.

       The defence counsel filed applications for a one-time exemption from personal appearance on behalf of Shehbaz and Hamza due to the law and order situation in the city in the wake of a protest march by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

       The court allowed the applications and adjourned the hearing till June 4.

       In this reference, NAB alleged that the family members and benamidars of Shehbaz received fake foreign remittances of billions in their personal bank accounts.

       In addition to these remittances, the bureau said, billions of rupees were laundered by way of foreign pay orders, which were deposited in the personal bank accounts of his sons Hamza and Suleman.

       Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2022