Ramzan Sugar Mills case: Court refuses extension in Hamza physical remand

LAHORE: An accountability court on Friday refused to grant further physical remand of opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, Hamza Shahbaz, to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and sent him to jail for 14 days in Ramzan Sugar Mills case.

Hamza is currently in the NAB custody in connection with assets beyond means and money-laundering investigations.

PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif was also present in the court room to attend his hearing in Ramzan Sugar Mills case. He is co-accused with his son Hamza in the case.

NAB prosecutor had pleaded for an extension in physical remand of Hamza Shahbaz, stating that few suspects in the case were not cooperating with the Bureau. He stated that NAB was yet to investigate suspects, Ikramul Haq and Javed Ahmad, in the case. The prosecutor said the Bureau required physical custody of Hamza to confront with other accused. The prosecutor also informed the court that Hamza was also not cooperating with the NAB investigators.

On the other hand, Amjad Parvez, counsel for Hamza, opposed the NAB plea, arguing that the suspected employees of Ramzan Sugar Mills were cooperating with NAB. They had also appeared before it. He said there was no point of investigations when reference had been filed and the accused person had been indicted.

The court, after hearing arguments from both sides, sent Hamza on judicial remand for 14 days.

News desk adds: Hamza Shahbaz, while talking to the media, warned Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying that he should worry about himself and the government should not dish out what it could not take. He said, “What happened with Rana Sanaullah was not an arrest but a joke with the public. The entire nation is laughing at this,” Hamza added.