An accountability court on Monday recorded statements of two witnesses in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case. The hearing of the case was resumed by Accountability Judge Amjad Nazir Chaudhry. The jail authorities presented Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz Sharif before the court under strict adherence of the coronavirus-related standard operating procedures (SOPs). The jail authorities and secretary home presented their report on the orders of the court over not presenting Hamza on a previous hearing. Earlier, the court took notice of Hamza Shahbaz’s absence in the hearing and had ordered the jail officials to submit a written response to clarify the reasons for not producing him. The NAB had filed a reference accusing former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, his son Hamza Shahbaz and others for causing losses to the national exchequer and misusing authority by sanctioning construction of a bridge to facilitate the sugar mills. The NAB officials said that Shehbaz Sharif, being the chief minister of Punjab, misused his authority by issuing directives for the construction of a 10-kilometre-long drain in Chiniot primarily to benefit the sugar mill owned by his sons. Shehbaz and Hamza have been accused of fraudulently causing a Rs 213 million loss to the national exchequer.