Court adjourns money laundering case against Shehbaz, others till April 27.

LAHORE -- Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif's application seeking exemption from personal appearance in Monday's proceedings of the money laundering case was accepted by Special Court Central Judge Ijaz Hassan Awan on Monday.

The application, submitted on the PML-N leader's behalf, sought the exemption owing to today's National Assembly session in which he is contesting for the post of prime minister.

The court had fixed April 11 for indicting Shehbaz and his son, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, in an alleged Rs16 billion money laundering case.

The prosecuting team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) also did not appear before the court for arguments on the said application.

The court adjourned the case till April 27 and extended the PML-N leaders interim bail.

In earlier proceedings, the court had rejected the FIA's plea for granting Shehbaz an exemption from personal appearance before the court. That court at that time had also accepted Shehbaz's application for granting him exemption from personal appearance.

It is worth mentioning that the court at that time had also rejected FIA's application wherein the bail cancellation of Shehbaz was sought on the grounds that no law provision was available that gave concession to an accused to be absent from court at bail stage.

The FIA's representatives had submitted an application before a special central court judge contending that Shehbaz remained absent from this court a number of times, sometimes owing to his ailment, on others owing to his engagements in political activities, which is absolutely not justified and is akin to making a mockery of the law.

On March 25, the accused remained absent from the court, an application for dispensation of attendance was...