Pakistan: Shehbaz Sharif and son indicted in corruption case

Lahore: An accountability court on Tuesday indicted Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, on charges he misused his authority while he was the chief minister of Punjab province.

His son Hamza, the Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly, was also indicted by the court in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case, Dawn reported.

Both Shehbaz and Hamza pleaded not guilty to the charges, which also involve the illegal use of public funds, the paper said.

During the brief hearing, Judge Najamul Hassan asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor for details about the Ramzan Sugar Mills case. Special prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua explained that public funds were used for a nullah (riverbed) for the mills, of which Hamza is a director.

According to the accountability watchdog, the funds for the nullah — around Rs200 million (Dh5.1 million) — had been released by then Punjab chief minister Shehbaz.

Shehbaz served as the chief minister of the politically crucial Punjab province from 2013 to 2018. He became PML-N president after his elder brother Nawaz Sharif was barred from holding the top party position and public posts.

“God knows, in 10 years, I have saved [the country] billions of rupees. I had nothing to do with this nullah. No money was wrongfully used,” Shehbaz, 63, told the court.

The court subsequently indicted both father and son, before moving onto hearing the Ashiana Housing scam.

Shehbaz has already been indicted along with nine others in the Ashiana Housing scam case. He was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau in the probe on October 5, 2018 and released on bail on February 14.

On Monday, Hamza was granted pre-arrest bail until April 17 by the Lahore High Court, which also restrained NAB from arresting him in cases pertaining to ownership of assets beyond means, until further notice.