LAHORE – An accountability court is likely to indict opposition leader inNational Assembly Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and his son, Hamza Shehbaz, inRamzan Sugar Mills case on March 16.
Earlier, both the PML-N leaders appeared beforeAccountability Court Judge Syed Najamul Hassan in connectionwith the case hearing on Monday.
Shehbaz’s counsel submitted that senior counsel AmjadPervaiz was not present due to his engagements in the LahoreHigh Court. He asked the court to delay the distribution ofreference copies among the accused.
However, the court declined the request and handed overthe reference copies to Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbazbesides adjourning hearing till March 16. The court also directed bothleaders to appear on the next date of hearing, sothey could be indicted by framing charges against them.
On Feb 18, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed areference against Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz, allegingthat former chief minister Punjab misused his authority andgot constructed a 10-km sludge carrier in district Chiniot to facilitateRamzan Sugar Mills, which was owned by his sons. The bureau alleged thatthe step caused a loss of Rs 213 million to national exchequer.
It is pertinent to mention here that a Lahore High Courtdivision bench had already granted bail to Shehbaz Sharif inAshiana-e-Iqbal and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases on Feb 14.
Meanwhile, the court also adjourned hearing of Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing case till March 16 after recording statements oftwo prosecution witnesses.
Shehbaz Sharif was present during the proceedings but thecourt allowed him to leave after it was told that he was notfeeling well and continued proceedings in his absence. The court recordedstatements of Israr Saeed and Arif Majeed Butt during the proceedings.
Earlier, the court expressed serious annoyance afterkey suspects Fawad Hassan Fawad and Ahad Cheema were notproduced before the court from jail on time and issued a notice to theofficials concerned to know the reasons.
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The court also noted the absence of Shehbaz Sharif, who also failed to reachon time, and warned that arrest warrants would be issued if hefailed to appear. However, later on, all the accused reachedthe court.
On Feb 18, the court had indicted the accused after thebureau filed a supplementary reference against PML-N Presidentand Chairman Public Accounts Committee Shehbaz Sharif and 12others in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing case.
The former principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad, NadeemZia, Kamran Kiyani, Munir Zia, Khalid Hussain, Shahid Chaudhryand others are the nominated accused in the reference.
NAB had accused Shehbaz Sharif of misusing his authority,which resulted in failure of the project, depriving 61,000applicants of housing units. NAB alleged that Shehbaz Sharif, in connivancewith former DG LDA Ahad Cheema, awarded the contract to a proxy.
NAB had already filed a reference against Cheema andfive others over their alleged role in Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housingscam.
Moreover, the court conducted hearing of illegal assets caseagainst Fawad Hassan Fawad and adjourned the matter till March 19with the direction to NAB for filing a reference by the nexthearing.
