The father-son duo have already been granted pre-arrest bail regarding this case, and at the hearing today, both their lawyers requested a one-time exemption for their clients, according to a report by Dawn.
PM Shehbaz's lawyer Amjad Pervaiz told the court that the Shehbaz was not well and had been advised against travelling. “The weather was unpleasant yesterday which is why he did not come today.”
While Hamza's lawyer Rao Aurangzeb said that his client was suffering from severe back pain and attached a medical report as proof for the granting of the exemption.
FIA Prosecutor Farooq Bajwa accepted the exemption applications and submitted the death certificate of Maqsood Malik, also known as 'Maqsood Chaprasi', who is a central figure in the case, following which the court stopped case proceedings against the deceased.
The prosecutor also told the court that the records of 19 of Suleman Shahbaz's — PM Shehbaz's son — had been obtained, and another 7 were yet to be obtained.
“We have written to some agencies and their replies are awaited,” he added. “We have submitted details of Suleman’s properties that we have obtained so far.”
Following this the court summoned Shehbaz and Hamza on September 7 for their formal indictment and framing of charges, and adjourned the hearing till then.