PM Shehbaz appeared before the court while Hamza filed a plea seeking a waiver from the personal attendance which was approved by the court.

“My family’s mills have been damaged by my decisions as the chief minister [of Punjab during the PML-N tenure],” he told the court.

“We took difficult decisions to save the country,” he said, “I and my leader staked politics for the sake of the state.”

Amjad Pervaiz, the lawyer of PM Shehbaz and Hamza, that there was no charge against his clients in the first information report (FIR). He added that Sulaiman Shehbaz was also accused of concealing the sale of sugar, not money laundering.

“This is not the jurisdiction of the Federal Investigation Agency but of the Federal Board of Revenue,” he said.

The court asked the lawyer to submit arguments on the acquittal plea and adjourned the hearing of the case till October 8.