LAHORE: Ramzan Sugar Mills case being heard at the accountability court here on Tuesday was marred by an altercation between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shehbaz and the judge.
Accountability Court Judge Amjad Nazir Chaudhry was conducting the proceedings, wherein, Hamza Shehbaz was produced before the court.
According to the details, the judge, at the onset of the hearing, expressed displeasure against Hamza Shehbaz for allowing people to take ‘selfies’ with him in the courtroom and directed him to come forward to which Hamza retorted and rhetorically questioned the judge on his tone.
Addressing Hamza, the judge observed that he was disturbing the court’s decorum and asked the PML-N leader if he had come to court to hold a press conference.
Hamza answered that many people wanted to meet him, adding that he was in judicial custody and did not call or bring anyone himself.
At this point, Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Rana Mashood quipped in saying that all the accused were in custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and people were not allowed to visit them which is why they had turned up at the hearing.
Hamza then sought permission from the court to talk and submitted that he respected the court and did not bring or invite any person for a meeting.
Later, a counsel on behalf of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif submitted an application for exemption from personal appearance stating that he had gone to Islamabad to attend a National Assembly (NA) session. The court had questioned his absence earlier.
The counsel further assured the court that documents concerned would be attached in future with the exemption application in response to a court objection on how it could be determined whether a session was in progress or not.
Subsequently, the court adjourned proceedings till November 26 after it was informed that copies of supplementary references had been given to the counsel of the accused. The court also extended Hamza’s judicial remand till the next date of hearing.