LAHORE: In the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference case, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz have been acquitted.
The judgment was delivered by Lahore’s Accountability Court Judge Sardar Muhammad Iqbal Dogar, who ruled to clear both leaders of all charges in the case.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed the reference on February 18, 2019, accusing Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz of using public funds to build a drain worth 210 million rupees for the Ramzan Sugar Mills.
The verdict in the case was reserved on February 3, while on January 28, the plaintiff, Zulfiqar Ali, distanced himself from the reference.
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Background of the case;
As per the private news media report, NAB alleged that in 2015, Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz had a drain built for the sugar mills in Chiniot, causing a loss of 213 million rupees to the national treasury.
The Lahore Accountability Court framed charges against them on April 9, 2019. On February 14, 2019, the Lahore High Court granted bail to Shehbaz Sharif, and Hamza Sharif was granted bail on February 6, 2020.
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After new evidence and a supplementary reference, the charges were re-framed on August 6, 2020. Following amendments in NAB laws, the case was sent back to NAB on September 11, 2022.
On September 22, 2023, the Supreme Court declared the NAB amendment law null, and the case was sent back to the Accountability Court for hearing. Following a further Supreme Court ruling on September 6, 2024, the case was transferred to the Anti-Corruption Court on October 17, 2024.
The decision on the Ramzan Sugar Mills case was finalized after a long legal process, and both Shehbaz and Hamza were acquitted.
