Daily Times

An accountability court on Thursday adjourned hearing of assets beyond means, Ramzan Sugar Mills and Ashiana Iqbal Housing scheme references against Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and others till August 16.

Shehbaz Sharif and other accused appeared before the court in three references while Hamza Shehbaz also attended the hearing of Ramzan Sugar Mills reference in which he was a nominated accused.

Duty Judge Sheikh Sajjad Ahmad conducted the proceedings of the references as a regular trial judge had not been appointed after the transfer of the judges of accountability courts.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Lahore High Court had granted bail to Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz in the references.

In the assets beyond means and money laundering reference, besides Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shehbaz, Javeria Ali, Fazl Dad Abbasi, Rashid Karamat, Muhammad Usman, Masroor Anwar, Nisar Ahmad, Shoaib Qamar, and Qasim Qayyum had been indicted in the case. However, Salman Shehbaz, Nusrat Shehbaz, Rabia Imran, Syed Muhammad Tahir Naqvi, Haroon Yousaf Zai and another could not be indicted due to their absence.

In a reference, comprising 55 volumes, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had alleged that the Shehbaz Sharif family committed massive money laundering of Rs 7 billion. Yasir Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad, Shahid Rafique and Aftab were made approvers in the reference.

As per Ramzan Sugar Mills reference, the NAB has accused Shehbaz Sharif of misuse of authority in the case. Shahbaz Sharif, allegedly approved an amount of Rs210 million for the construction of the drain to benefit the mills. Hamza has been charged in the case for being the chief executive of the Ramzan Sugar Mills.

In the Ashiana Housing case, the NAB had alleged that Shehbaz Sharif being the chief minister of Punjab misused his authority by unlawfully assuming powers of the Board of Directors of the PLDC. It said he in connivance with his co-suspects awarded a contract to an ineligible proxy firm that resulted in failure of Ashiana Housing Scheme causing a loss to public exchequer and deprived 61,000 applicants of houses.

Media Talk

Opposition leader in National Assembly and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that load shedding and power cuts in Punjab is a ‘gift’ from rulers to the masses.

Talking to media after his prelude before Accountability court in Lahore, Shehbaz Sharif said that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharf’s government added 11000 Mega Watts of electricity to power reservoirs.

“Nawaz Sharif established low-cost power projects across the country to eradicate obscurities from Pakistan”, PML-N president said.

In a separate statement on Thursday, the PML-N president criticized NAB’s accountability process and said that PML-N leaders Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Asif’s bail from their detainment in respective cases is a proof that this accountability process is a fraud.

“The bail decisions show that corruption could not be proven against Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Asif.”, PML-N president said while defending senior most members of his party.

Shehbaz Sharif further said that judgment regarding Khawaja Asif says that he [Khawaja Asif] was not involved in any corruption and Ahsan Iqbal’s bail verdict states that NAB exceeded its jurisdiction by arresting Ahsan Iqbal.