Lahore (Web Desk): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz were acquitted in Ramzan Sugar Mills case by an anti-corruption court in Lahore on Thursday.
The ruling was delivered on Thursday by Judge Sardar Iqbal Dogar, who had previously reserved the verdict on Monday.
The case centered around accusations that Shehbaz, while serving as the chief minister of Punjab, misused his authority to divert public funds for the construction of a sludge carrier in Chiniot district.
This project was allegedly intended to benefit the Ramzan Sugar Mills, which is owned by his sons.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against Shehbaz in February 2019, claiming the construction of a 10-kilometre sludge carrier in Chiniot district led to a loss of Rs213 million to the national treasury.
In November 2023, the reference was reopened after changes made by the coalition government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) were annulled.
Shehbaz and Hamza were initially indicted in 2019, and they later sought a transfer of the case after a Supreme Court (SC) ruling in September 2024 that reinstated amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.
The case was moved from the accountability court to an anti-corruption court in October 2024, following new rules that prevented NAB from pursuing cases involving amount smaller than Rs500 million.
During the hearing, the defense counsel argued that the sludge carrier was not built exclusively for the Ramzan Sugar Mills but was intended for broader local use.
The Lawyer also presented a statement from the complainant, who admitted that they had not originally accused the premier or his son of any wrongdoing.
This admission, coupled with the lack of substantive evidence, led to the court's decision to acquit both Shehbaz and Hamza.
This acquittal follows a similar ruling in November 2023, when Shehbaz and several others were cleared in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme case.
The NAB had confirmed in that case that no evidence of financial corruption or abuse of power was found, leading to the dismissal of allegations that Shehbaz had caused financial loss by awarding a housing contract without a competitive bidding process.
