LAHORE: The hearing of a money laundering case against Suleman Shehbaz, younger son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and others was adjourned on Saturday due to unavailability of the judge of a special court (central-I).

Suleman and other suspects appeared before the court along with their counsel.

The court staff marked the attendance of the suspects and fixed Feb11 as the next date of hearing as Presiding Judge Bakht Fakhar Behzad was on leave.

On the last hearing, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted a supplementary investigation report to the extent of Suleman as other suspects, including PM Shehbaz and his elder son Hamza, had already been acquitted in the money laundering case.

The report said Suleman joined the investigation, however, the investigating officer found no evidence of money laundering or receiving kickbacks againstthe suspect.

In the light of the agency`s report, Suleman and another suspect, Tahir Naqvi, had withdrawn their bail petitions.

Suleman recently ended his almost fouryear long self-exile and returned to the countryafter securing an interim protective bail from the Islamabad High Court.

CHALLENGED: The Lahore High Court has sought a reply from the Punjab government on a petition challenging appointment of a `junior officer` as the chief engineer of the Public Health Engineering (PHE).

Muhammad Nadeem, a citizen, filed the petition saying he has a right to assail the appointment of respondent Rafiq Goraya as chief engineer of the PHE South Zone, Lahore, a BS-20 post.

Petitioner`s counsel Malik Awais Khalid arguedthatthe respondent officer had been posted against rules and regulations. He said senior officers were available in the department but the respondent had been posted on an ad hoc basis instead of the appointment of a regular incumbent.

He pointed out that the respondent, being a junior officer, was not eligible to be posted on a BS-20 post. He said the impugned appointment of the respondent was not only against the merit and procedure but also againstthe doctrine ofgoodgovernance.

He asked the court to set aside the appointment of the respondent for being made unlawfully.

The court directed the government to submit a reply by the next date of hearing.