- PM Shehbaz appears before court in Ashiana Housing scheme, Ramazan Sugar Mill cases.
- Earlier, the premier had claimed he has no stake in either.
- PM Shehbaz and CM Hamza were indicted in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case in 2020.
LAHORE: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appeared before an accountability court in cases related to the Ashiana Housing scheme and the Ramazan Sugar Mills, Geo News reported Monday.
Meanwhile, co-accused former director-general of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Ahad Khan Cheema also appeared before the court. Chief Minister Punjab Hamza Shahbaz has also been summoned today.
The authorities concerned were involved in a cleaning process outside the accountability court prior to the appearance of PM Shehbaz.
During the last hearing on June 11, PM Shehbaz, while addressing the court, had said that in the Ashiana case, it was alleged that “I had misused my authority. The Lahore High Court (LHC) has given a detailed verdict in my case.”
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“The National Accountability Court (NAB) approached the Supreme Court for revocation of my bail and the then chief justice asked where the proof of corruption was. The NAB ran away from there,” Shehbaz had claimed.
PM Shehbaz and CM Hamza were indicted in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case in 2020.
In its reference, the NAB had alleged that Shehbaz, then being the chief minister of Punjab, had issued a directive for the construction of a drain in Chiniot district, mainly for the use of Ramzan Sugar Mills, which is owned by his sons. It said Rs200 million was spent on the drain from the public money.
While the accountability bureau had also alleged that the then Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz and other suspects caused a huge loss to the national exchequer by awarding the contract of the Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme to a company without bidding.
