In Lahore, an anti-corruption court, presided over by Judge Sardar Iqbal Dogar, has cleared Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz of charges in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.
The case focused on allegations that PM Shehbaz, formerly the Chief Minister of Punjab, misused his authority. Accusers claimed he used public funds to build a sludge carrier to benefit Ramzan Sugar Mills, owned by his sons.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a reference on February 18, 2019, to initiate these allegations. It accused PM Shehbaz of orchestrating the construction of a 10-kilometre sludge carrier in district Chiniot, which allegedly caused a Rs213 million loss to the national exchequer.
Authorities reopened the case in November 2023 after the coalition government led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement overturned certain amendments. In 2019, the Supreme Court restored amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, and the premier and his son Hamza faced indictment. They then sought to transfer the reference to another court in September 2024.
In October 2024, the case transitioned from an accountability court to an anti-corruption court due to NAB’s jurisdiction, which is restricted to alleged offences exceeding Rs500 million.
During the hearings, PM Shehbaz and Hamza’s lawyer, Amjad Pervez, argued that the sludge carrier served the general local area, not just the Ramzan Sugar Mills. He also pointed out that the complainant had admitted during the NAB inquiry that he was not the original complainant and had not initially accused PM Shehbaz and Hamza of corruption.
Read: Court Begins Process to Return NAB Reference Against PM Shehbaz Sharif
This acquittal marks another significant legal victory for PM Shehbaz, following his clearance by an accountability court in Lahore in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme case in November 2023. In that situation, NAB retracted its claims after not uncovering evidence of financial wrongdoing or misuse of power, asserting that the accusations against the former chief minister lacked substantiation under the National Accountability Ordinance of 1999.
The previous charges in the 2018 reference accused the premier of causing substantial financial losses to the national treasury by awarding a contract to a construction firm without a competitive bidding process. However, with these recent acquittals, PM Shehbaz has successfully contested the allegations of misuse of authority and corruption.
