LAHORE: An accountability court on Monday sought arguments from the counsel for Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and the prosecution on the effect of the National A c c o u n t a b i 1 i t y (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 on the ongoing trial of the references.

Earlier, Shehbaz and his son, Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza appeared before the court.

Shehbaz told the court that he was scheduled to leave for Islamabad to attend the National Assembly session.

Presiding Judge Naseem Virk permitted the duo to leave after the process of their attendance was completed in the references of money laundering and Ramzan Sugar Mills.

During the hearing, a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor stated that the prosecution witnesses were present in the court for their testimony.

However, the counsel for Shehbaz argued that the process of the evidence recording could not be car-ried out after the introduction of recent amendments to the NAB law.

The prosecutor said the life of the ordinance was six months and it would not have any effect on the ongoing trials.

The judge adjourned further hearing till Nov 5 and sought detailed arguments from both sides on the effect of the amended ordinance on the pending trials.

In the money laundering reference, the NAB alleged that the family members and benamidars of Shehbaz received falce foreign remittances worth billions in their personal bank accounts. In addition to these remittances, the bureau said, billions of rupees were laundered by way of foreign pay orders, which were deposited in personal bank accounts of his sons Hamza and Suleman.

In the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference, the NAB alleged that Shehbaz, being chief minister of Punjab, issued a directive for the construction of a drain in Chiniot district, mainly for the use of the sugar mills owned by his sons. It said an amount of Rs200 million was spent for the purpose from the public money.