A Pakistani court on Tuesday granted one-time exemption to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son and Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz from personal appearance in separate corruption cases.
Prime Minister Shahbaz was to appear before an accountability court in Lahore on Tuesday in connection with the Ashiana-e-Iqbal housing scheme corruption case, in which he is facing abuse of authority and loss of lakhs of rupees to the exchequer.
He requested the court through his counsel to grant him exemption as he was “busy in Islamabad in connection with various official matters” and could not appear before the court.
In a separate but similar application to the Ramzan Sugar Mills case, Hamza said that as Chief Minister of Punjab, he was “engaged in various important matters of urgent nature and public welfare”.
“It is because of the preoccupation with the discharge of constitutional obligations that [I] According to a report in Dawn newspaper, I am unable to appear before this honorable court today.
The court accepted the applications of both the leaders and adjourned the hearing till July 16.
Shahbaz has already been granted permanent exemption from appearance in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case, in which he has been named as the prime suspect along with Hamza.
A special court has already confirmed the pre-arrest bail of Shahbaz in the Federal Investigation Agency’s Rs 14 billion money laundering case.
Deposed Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed wonder how a suspect like Shahbaz, who is wanted in a multi-billion money laundering case, is given “huge relief” by the courts.
“This man (Shahbaz) should be sent to jail instead of being placed on the prime minister’s chair in a money laundering case,” Khan said at a recent rally.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) registered a case against Shahbaz and Hamza in 2019, alleging that they “fraudulently and dishonestly” caused a loss of Rs 213 million to the national exchequer.
According to NAB, when Shahbaz was the Chief Minister of Punjab, he had issued a direction for the construction of a drain in Chiniot district to benefit the sugar mills mainly owned by his sons.
The report said the anti-corruption watchdog claimed to have found “substantial incriminating” material and evidence during the investigation.
In the Ashiana Housing Scheme case, Shahbaz was accused of abuse of authority by illegally assuming the powers of the board of directors of the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC), and awarded a contract to an unqualified proxy firm, resulting in There was a failure. housing scheme.
The scam caused loss to the exchequer and home deprivation of 61,000 applicants, the report said.
It is also alleged that Shahbaz’s direction from PLDC to hand over a housing scheme project to the Lahore Development Authority and interfere in the affairs of the company was in violation of the Companies Ordinance, Memorandum and Articles of Association and Corporate Governance Rules 2013. Told.
The NAB had alleged that the former chief minister caused a loss of Rs 660 million to the exchequer due to his illegal acts and abuse of authority and the total project cost was Rs 3.39 billion.
Shahbaz was granted bail in both the cases by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in February 2019, while Hamza was granted bail by the LHC in February 2020.