Daily Times

On Monday, Shahbaz Sharif and his son, Hamza Shahbaz, were accused by an accountability court in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.

The father-son duo pleaded not guilty to the charges framed against them, which involve the misuse of their authority and the illegal use of public funds.

As the hearing began, a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) lawyer stated that both PML-N leaders would be indicted today. NAB special prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua gave his arguments regarding their indictment.

Upon accountability judge, Najamul Hasan’s enquiry about what Ramzan Mills reference was, Janjua explained that Hamza, as director of the mills, utilized public funds for constructing a nullah solely for the benefit of the mill.

The accountability watchdog reports that the funds for nullah─ which come to about Rs200 million ─ had been sactioned by then Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif.

As Shahbaz began to explain his argument, the judge told him to speak when asked to.

Shahbaz, however, continued: “God knows, in 10 years, I have saved [the country] billions of rupees. I had nothing to do with this nullah, no money was wrongfully used.”

The court subsequently filed charges against both, father and son, before moving onto hearing the Ashiyana Housing scam case, in which Shahbaz has already been indicted.

Yesterday, a Ramzan Sugar Mills manager, Mohammad Mushtaq alias Chini, was taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency while attempting to flee to Dubai.

He is alleged to be the frontman for a Sharif family member and had reportedly gone underground after Shahbaz was arrested. Sources said that NAB wants to grill Mushtaq in connection with a sum of Rs600 million he transferred to the account of Salman Shahbaz, Hamza’s brother.

Last week, NAB made two attempts to arrest Hamza from his family’s residence in Lahore in connection with a case pertaining to ownership of assets beyond means. However, the bureau was restrained from arresting him by the Lahore High Court, which yesterday granted Hamza pre-arrest bail until April 17.