LAHORE - An accountability court in Lahore on Thursday declared three family members of Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif as absconders in money laundering and assets beyond the means case.

Shehbaz Sharif's son Salman Shehbaz, daughter Rabia Imran and son-in-law Yousuf were declared absconders after they failed to appear in the court despite repeated summons.

Accountability Court Judge Syed Jawadul Hassan conducted the case proceedings, wherein jail authorities produced Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shehbaz and others on expiry of their judicial remand term.

At the start of the proceedings, the accountability court judge and NAB prosecutor Usman G Rashid Cheema condoled with Shehbaz Sharif over the demise of his mother. 

An associate of Shehbaz Sharif's counsel Amjad Parvaiz requested the court to adjourn the proceedings as the senior counsel could not appear due to his engagements.

However, the court rejected the request and recorded statements of three prosecution witnesses including Tayyab Zawar, Khalid Mehmood and Faisal Bilal. The witness Faisal Bilal stated that, in 2019, he was posted as deputy secretary Budget and Finance in the Punjab Assembly and he gave record of perks and privileges obtained by Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz as members of the provincial assembly, to the NAB investigation officer.

At this stage, the court declared Salman Shehbaz, Rabia Imran and Yousuf as absconders. The court observed that the accused were summoned through a proclamation, however, the accused had still not appeared in the court despite thirty days' time period.

Subsequently, the court adjourned the further hearing till December 3 and ordered for cross examination of the witnesses on the next date of hearing.It is pertinent to mention here that the court did not declare Shehbaz Sharif's wife Nusrat Shehbaz as absconder because thirty days' time period had not completed.

The NAB had nominated 16 persons as accused in the case. However, only 10, out of 16, were indicted yet.