An anti-corruption court in Lahore acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son, Hamza Shahbaz, in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case on Thursday. The verdict, which had been reserved on Monday, was announced by Judge Sardar Iqbal Dogar.
The case revolved around allegations that PM Shehbaz, during his tenure as Punjab chief minister, misused his authority by using public funds to construct a sludge carrier benefiting the Ramzan Sugar Mills, owned by his sons. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference on February 18, 2019, accusing Shehbaz of approving a 10-kilometer sludge carrier in Chiniot, allegedly causing a loss of Rs213 million to the national exchequer.
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Following the Supreme Court’s decision to restore amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, the case, initially filed in 2019, was reopened in November 2023. In September 2024, Shehbaz and Hamza applied for the reference to be transferred, leading to the case being shifted from an accountability court to an anti-corruption court in October 2024, as NAB could no longer prosecute offences involving amounts below Rs500 million.
During the hearings, the defense counsel, Amjad Pervez, argued that the complainant had admitted the sludge carrier was not solely constructed for the Ramzan Sugar Mills but served the local community as well. Furthermore, he pointed out that the complainant had informed NAB during the inquiry that he was not the original complainant in the case.
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Notably, in November 2023, an accountability court in Lahore also acquitted PM Shehbaz and ten others in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme reference. The NAB had informed the court that there was no evidence of financial corruption or misuse of authority by Shehbaz. In the 2018 reference, he had been accused of causing significant financial losses by awarding a construction contract without a competitive bidding process. However, the allegations of corruption and misuse of power were ultimately unsubstantiated under the National Accountability Ordinance of 1999.