Shehbaz, Hamza's indictment deferred in Ramzan Sugar Mills case

LAHORE: An accountability court in Lahore on Saturday deferred indictment of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in Ramzan Sugar Mills case.

Amid tight security, the father-son duo appeared in the court of duty judge Jawad Ahsan as accountability judge Syed Najamul Hassan was on leave.

After a brief hearing, the judge allowed Shehbaz and Hamza to leave the court and scheduled the next hearing for March 27 when they will likely be indicted in the case.

In the previous hearing, the court had handed over the reference copies to Shehbaz and Hamza and directed them to appear on the next hearing so that they could be indicted.

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.

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.