A banking court on Friday issued arrest warrants of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s cousins after they failed to appear in the case for allegedly defaulting on bank loans.

The court ordered police to arrest and produce Javed Shafi and Tariq Shafi at the next hearing on December 17.

During today’s proceedings, the court turned down their plea to grant them exemption from personal appearance in the case.

The court had given Shahid Shafi, Tariq Shafi, Javed Shafi, Ali Pervaiz and Ibrahim Tariq a last chance to appear before it.

They allegedly defaulted loans of worth Rs700 million obtained for Ittifaq and Kashmir sugar mills.

As per reports, they were served multiple notices by the banks to pay back the loan but to no avail. The court, therefore, was requested to order action against them as per relevant laws.