PM Shehbaz gets permanent exemption from court appearances

LAHORE: An accountability court approved the request for permanent exemption from court appearances made by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the money laundering reference.

Judge Qamar uz Zaman held a hearing on the money laundering reference on Tuesday. He accepted the PM's plea and authorised him to appoint a representative to appear in court instead of him. 

The court, meanwhile, also granted one-day exemption to Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz.

The court sought a response from NAB on Hamza's request for a permanent attendance waiver.

In the reference, NAB has claimed that in the last 30 years, the Shehbaz family assets increased from Rs2 million to Rs7,000 million, which the family had failed to justify.

The bureau alleged that the family members and benamidars of Shehbaz received fake foreign remittances in their personal bank accounts, adding that billions of rupees were laundered through foreign pay orders deposited in the personal bank accounts of Hamza Shahbaz and Suleman Shehbaz.