LAHORE    -   A special court on Monday ex­empted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz from personal appearance for one day in a case registered by the Fed­eral Investigation Agency (FIA).

Special Court Central Judge Ijaz Hussain Awan conducted heard the case. The prime minister and his son did not appear before the court. However, a legal team filed applications for exemption from personal appearance for one-day on their behalf.

The court was apprised that the prime minister was on a for­eign visit whereas Hamza Sheh­baz was suffering from back pain. The counsel for banks argued that the court had sought details of some accounts of the compa­nies at the last hearing, but no amount was available in them. Shehbaz Sharif’s counsel Amjad Pervaiz submitted that the ac­counts were opened for obtain­ing loan and depositing money during the crushing season, and Salman Shehbaz had no role in operating them.

The accounts were opened to run different affairs of the companies, he added and pleaded the court to un­freeze them. Subsequently, the court ordered to restore the accounts of the companies and sought argu­ments from parties on acquittal ap­plications of the prime minister and his son on September 30