LAHORE: An anti-corruption court on Thursday acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.

Judge Sardar Muhammad Iqbal Dogar announced the short order on acquittal pleas filed by the premier and his son. A detailed order will be issued later.

Earlier, the judgement was reserved on Feb 3 after the defence and prosecution concluded their arguments.

On Oct 17, 2024, an accountability court transferred the reference to the anti-corruption court for lack of jurisdiction following amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.

The defence had argued that the NAB, after the amendments, cannot prosecute an alleged offence involving money less than Rs500 million, adding that the amount mentioned in the reference was below the minimum value.

The accountability court was informed that NAB, in its reference, had made a case of alleged corruption of Rs213m.

The NAB reference filed in 2018 alleged that PM Shehbaz, being the chief minister of Punjab, and his son Hamza, with the abetment of other accused, had caused a loss of Rs213m to the exchequer by misusing their authority.

It said Mr Shehbaz had issued a directive for construction of a drain in Chiniot district primarily for the use of Ramzan Sugar Mills owned by his sons Hamza and Suleman.

After the transfer of the proceedings to the anti-corruption court, the complainant, Zulfiqar Ali, appeared before the trial court and resiled from his earlier statement.

He submitted an affidavit to the court, admitting that the construction of the waste water drain in Chiniot did not cause any loss to the exchequer.

He clarified that he was unaware of the details of the petition, therefore, wished to withdraw it.

During his concluding arguments, Prosecutor Mian Waseem said the complainant had resiled his earlier statement and former MPA Rehmat Ali, on whose request the drain was built, had passed away.

The prosecutor asked the court to go through the record and decide the acquittal pleas.

Defence counsel Amjad Pervez had argued that the directive for the drain’s construction was not issued by the then chief minister, but was approved by the Punjab cabinet as part of a development scheme for the area.

He urged the court to acquit Mr Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz.

The NAB had arrested Mr Shehbaz on Oct 5, 2018, while the Lahore High Court released him on bail on Feb 14, 2019.

The high court had observed that prima facie, allegations about corrupt practice, abuse of authority, kickbacks and commission required further probe during trial.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said the verdict was a vindication for her family.

“Alhamdulillah, Allah Almighty has vindicated us, we are grateful to Him,” she said.

She congratulated her uncle and cousin on their acquittal and expressed good wishes for them.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2025