An accountability court in Lahore on Tuesday indicted Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz – opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly – in the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference.
Accountability Judge Najamul Hassan read out charges against them. The father-son duo denied charges and opted to contest them.
The judge allowed Shehbaz and Hamza to leave the court after framing of charges against them.
During the course of the hearing, Shehbaz tried to say something in his defence but the judge stopped him. “I saved hundreds of billions of rupees of the government over 10 years,” the PML-N president said, questioning how he could have used the national kitty for the construction of a drain.
The judge assured him that he would be given a fair hearing. “These are just allegations against you, which are yet to be proved,” he added. Strict security arrangements were made with a good number of security personnel deployed at the court to avoid any untoward incident.
In the previous hearing on March 27, the court had postponed the indictment of Shehbaz Sharif and his son in the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference. Sharifs’ lawyer had requested the court to postpone the indictment.
Shehbaz submits reply to NAB in assets beyond means case
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference, accusing the former Punjab chief minister of causing loss to the national exchequer and misusing his authority by sanctioning construction of a bridge to facilitate his sugar mill. NAB officials said Shehbaz, being chief minister of Punjab, misused his authority by issuing directives for the construction of a 10-kilometer-long drain in Chiniot district primarily to benefit the sugar mills, owned by his sons. Shehbaz and Hamza have been accused of fraudulently causing a Rs213 million loss to the national exchequer.
Last year in October, Shahbaz Sharif was taken into custody by the National Accountability Bureau Lahore in connection with the Ashiana Housing and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases.
Meanwhile, Shehbaz Sharif, on Tuesday submitted a detailed answer to questions put up by the NAB in a case pertaining to amassing of assets beyond known sources of income.
According to sources, the NAB will now go through the reply submitted by the opposition leader of the National Assembly and will decide the further course of action.
Sources informed that the accountability watchdog would subsequently decide about summoning the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shehbaz Sharif.
The National Accountability Bureau had sent a questionnaire to former chief minister Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif comprising 12 questions seeking asset details of Sharif.
The NAB is also expected to question Shehbaz Sharif over his banking transactions in the recent years, sources said. The NAB will also grill the National Assembly opposition leader regarding two individuals – Fazal Dad and Qasim Qayyum, who were arrested couple of days ago by the NAB. The NAB had arrested two individuals Qayyum and Dad on April 6 for facilitating the Sharif family, particularly Shehbaz Sharif, his sons Hamza and Suleman Shehbaz, over money laundering charges. In an application submitted to an accountability judge seeking remand of the accused, NAB said it had launched an inquiry against the Sharif family in October last year for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices after the State Bank of Pakistan report, dated Jan 12, 2018, revealed “suspicious and cash transactions in the bank accounts of Shehbaz and his sons”.