Ramzan Sugar Mills case: Ruckus in courtroom irks judge
- By Web Desk -
- Mar 27, 2019
LAHORE: An accountability court in Lahore once again on Wednesday deferred indictment of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in Ramzan Sugar Mills reference.
The accountability judge provided a copy of the reference along with DVDs of the case to Shehbaz Sharif and allowed him and his son to leave the court premises after recording their attendance.
The Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) president’s lawyer stated that his client couldn’t sit in the court for a longer period owing to his ill health and pleaded that he be allowed to leave.
The judge expressed displeasure over ruckus created by PML-N workers and lawyers who accompanied the party leaders inside the courtroom. Towards the end, he directed the PML-N leaders to take the party workers out of the court along with them.
In the previous hearing, the father-son duo couldn’t be indicted as accountability judge Syed Najamul Hassan was on leave.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had earlier on Feb 18 filed a reference against the PML-N president and his son, accusing the former of misusing his authority to get a 10-km drain constructed in Chiniot to facilitate Ramzan Sugar Mills, which was owned by his sons.
Read Also: LHC orders removal of Shehbaz Sharif’s name from ECL
NAB officials said Shehbaz, being chief minister of Punjab, misused his authority by issuing directives for the construction of a 10 kilometer long drain in Chiniot district primarily to benefit the sugar mills his sons owned. Shehbaz and Hamza have been accused of fraudulently causing a Rs213 million loss to the national exchequer.
According to a list prepared by NAB, former Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif’s then Implementation Secretary Ahmed Javed Qazi, Imdadullah Bosal, then Secretary to CM Syed Tariq Shah and then Admin Secretary Tariq Masood would record their statements in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.
Former DCO Chiniot Dr Irshad, Shoukat Ali, National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) Chief Engineer Muhammad Ayoob, Section Officer PHS Zulfiqar Ali, officer Namaat Ali will also record testimonies in the sugar mill case.