From Abid Usman
LAHORE: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son MNA Hamza Shehbaz have sought relief in the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference under the amended NAB law.
The lawyer for the prime minister and his son filed an application in the accountability court regarding the court’s jurisdiction.
According to the petitioners, under the new NAB law, the accountability court does not have the authority to hear the reference. It has been requested that the court return the reference to the NAB chairman. The court has sought a response from NAB by Oct 11. The court approved Shehbaz Sharif’s request for a one-day exemption from appearance. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s representative, Anwar Hussain, appeared and marked the attendance.
Earlier, The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday submitted the file of Ramzan Sugar Mills reference to an accountability court against former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son former chief minister Punjab Hamza Shehbaz.
The NAB is approaching the accountability courts for reopening of the references closed under the defunct amendments in the law set aside by the Supreme Court.
An accountability court on September 7, 2022, had returned the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference to the NAB with an observation that it lacked jurisdiction to proceed further in the case after the amendments introduced in the law.
The scrapped amendments had clipped the jurisdiction of the Bureau to take cognizance of any alleged financial corruption involving money less than Rs 500 million whereas the NAB in the sugar mills reference against Shehbaz and his son made a case of alleged corruption of Rs 213 million.
In the mills reference, the NAB had arrested Shehbaz on October 5, 2018, and the Lahore High Court had released him on bail on February 14, 2019.
The NAB alleged that Shehbaz, being Punjab chief minister, had issued a directive for the construction of a drain in district Chiniot primarily for the use of Ramzan Sugar Mills owned by his sons – Hamza and Suleman.
The NAB is also likely to approach the accountability court for the reopening of Paragon reference against former federal minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafiq, his brother Khwaja Salman Rafiq and others.
