LAHORE: An accountability court on Tuesday declared Nusrat Shehbaz, wife of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, an absconder in the money laundering and illegal assets reference.

The court on complaint of Shehbaz Sharif for non-provision of medical facilities directed the jail's superintendent to appear in person along with a report in this regard on December 12. The prosecution also presented its three witnesses, however, their cross-examination could not be held as counsel of Shehbaz Sharif failed to appear before the court. The presiding judge Jawadul Hassan expressed his dismay over the absence of the counsel and adjourned the cross examination till next hearing.

Earlier, investigating officer of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a report before the court and said the process to declare the suspect absconder stood completed as Nusrat failed to attend the proceedings despite the last opportunity of 30 days. The court declaring Ms Nusrat an absconder directed the IO to start further process against her which includes confiscation of moveable and immoveable properties of an absconder.

Shehbaz's son Suleman, daughter Rabia Imran and son-in-law Haroon Yousaf had already been declared absconders for avoiding their appearance in the proceedings.

The jail officials produced Shehbaz Sharif, his son and Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz before the court. Shehbaz Sharif complained about the non-provision of the facility of physiotherapy in the jail despite an order issued by the court.

The PML-N president also spoke in his defence and reiterated that he had not misappropriated a single penny from the public money. He also claimed to have never withdrawn his salary being a parliamentarian since his first stint in 1988 as member of Punjab Assembly. The presiding judge however advised Shehbaz to speak less in the court and let his legal counsel defend the case.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020