A Lahore sessions court on Saturday adjourned proceedings in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s defamation suit against the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan until January 14, while summoning additional witnesses.

The hearing was held before Additional Sessions Judge Yilmaz Ghani. During the proceedings, prosecution witness Adnan Raza recorded his statement. Counsel for the PTI founder, Muhammad Hussain Chotya, completed the cross-examination.

In his testimony, Adnan Raza said he was a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) worker and that his entire family was affiliated with the party.

He stated that on April 8, 2017, the PTI founder accused Shehbaz Sharif of offering a bribe worth Rs10 billion, an allegation he said was later repeated on television programmes, public rallies and in newspapers.

The witness maintained that the allegations were false and damaged Shehbaz Sharif’s reputation. He further claimed that the statements caused public unrest and led to political losses for the PML-N.

During cross-examination, the defence questioned the witness on matters related to the Panama Papers case, election results and Form-47. The witness rejected the defence’s assertions and reiterated that the allegations against Shehbaz Sharif were baseless.

The court has already recorded and completed cross-examination of earlier witnesses, including the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly and Ata Tarar.

The court adjourned the hearing to January 14 for further proceedings.