LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday accepted the bail plea of Hamza Shehbaz in the Ramzan Sugar Mills case.
A two-member bench of the LHC, headed by Justice Mazhar Ali Naqvi, on Thursday conducted a hearing into the Ramzan Sugar Mills case. Shehbaz had been indicted in the sugar mills case along with his father, former Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on April 9 last year.
In his petition, filed though his counsel Amjad Pervaiz, the PML-N leader had alleged that the accountability bureau had initiated the inquiry into the Ramzan Sugar Mills with malicious intentions.
The petition further stated that the bureau had failed to find any irregularity. “The nullah was built in tehsil Bhawana in the public interest,” the petition said.
On February 18, 2019, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a reference against Hamza and Shehbaz, alleging the former chief minister Punjab misused his authority and got constructed a 10-km sludge carrier in the Chiniot district to facilitate Ramzan Sugar Mills, owned by his sons. The bureau had alleged that the step inflicted a loss of Rs213 million to the national exchequer.
On April 17 2019, Hamza was granted pre-arrest bail by LHC, which also restrained NAB from arresting him in cases pertaining to ownership of assets beyond means, until further notice. Hamza was also directed to submit bail bonds worth Rs10 million at the time.
The court will hear the bail petition in the money laundering case on February 11.
