Lahore HC begins ex-parte proceedings against 61 Pak politicians in foreign assets case

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday decided to start ex-parte proceedings against 61 politicians in relation to a foreign assets case.

According to the Dawn, Lahore High Court Judge Justice Ameenuddin made the call during the hearing of a petition filed by Advocate Javed Iqbal Jafree which said that prominent politicians, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, PTI chairman Imran Khan and former president Asif Ali Zardari had transferred their assets to foreign countries via illegal means.

The petition had requested the court to issue orders to bring the allegedly illegally transferred assets back to Pakistan.

On September 2, only three out of the 64 initially directed had filed affidavits in this regard. These included Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, his wife Bushra Aitzaz and former chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Qamar Zaman Chaudhry.

The court decided to begin ex parte proceedings against the politicians who had not submitted their assets' details and ordered Director General Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) Ghalib Ali Bandesha, Punjab Advocate General Hanif Khatana and Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt to submit an affidavit declaring details of the investigation that has taken place into the case so far.

The case was subsequently adjourned to September 29.