Court adjourns hearing against Shahbaz till May 18

LAHORE: An accountability court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of Ramzan Sugar Mills and Aashiana Iqbal references against PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif till May 18.

Shahbaz was produced before the court while Hamza Shahbaz also attended the hearing of Ramzan Sugar Mills reference in which he is a nominated accused. The court adjourned the hearing of both the references as a regular trial judge has not been appointed after the transfer of the judges of accountability courts. In the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference, the NAB blamed Hamza Shahbaz, chief executive of Ramzan Sugar Mills, for getting constructed a drain, facilitating his mill with the public money in Chiniot. The then chief minister Shahbaz Sharif allegedly approved Rs 210 million for the drain construction.

As per Aashiana housing case, the NAB had filed the reference against Shahbaz Sharif, former principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad, Nadeem Zia, Kamran Kayani, brother of former Army chief Ashfaque Pervez Kayani, Munir Zia, Khalid Hussain, Ali Sajid, Shahid Chaudhry, Ahad Cheema, Bilal Kidwai, Shahid Shafique, Imtiaz Haider, Israr Saeed and Arif Butt.

The court had framed charges against the accused except Nadeem Zia and Kamran Kayani as both are proclaimed offenders. The NAB had accused Shahbaz Sharif of misusing his authority that resulted in failure of the project, depriving 61,000 applicants of housing units. The NAB alleged that Shahbaz, in connivance with former LDA DG Ahad Cheema awarded the contract to a proxy firm. Moreover, Shahbaz usurped the powers of the Board of Directors of the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) and transferred the project of Ashiana-e-Iqbal from the PLDC to the LDA.

The illegal act of the former chief minister caused a loss to the state exchequer amounting to Rs 660 million and also led to an escalation of the project cost by approximately Rs 3.39 billion, the reference said.

Meanwhile, PML-N Punjab spokesperson Azma Bokhari has said those who buy property with Zakat and charity money “should not teach us ethics”.

Talking to the media outside the accountability court here on Wednesday, she said if RTS had not been closed, the PTI would never have come into power. “Shahid Khaqan Abbasi became the prime minister by taking votes from people and Imran Khan became the prime minister by stealing votes.” she said and added: “We should not take lesson of creativity from the PTI. In the past, curses were sent to the parliament and today the selected prime minister is announcing his victory on the PTV and teaching us a lesson on ethics.”

“Those who are demanding an apology from Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, first apologize to the nation for cursing the parliament,” she said, adding that Imran Khan promised to solve the country's problems in 90 days and not to go to the IMF, but he failed. Azma alleged that Imran Khan received financial aid from abroad in the name of Zakat and charity. He received money from the poor in the name of charity and properties worth billions of rupees were bought in Dubai and the US in the name of Aleema Baji.

Azma said Imran has no source of livelihood but still owns properties worth billions of rupees. “Imran Khan should apologize for stealing flour and sugar from the nation,” she said, adding that Pakistan's debts are increasing day by day, but the government is doing nothing and still busy with its looting spree.

She said when the country was on fire, the so-called brave leader of the Muslim Ummah was hiding somewhere and even he didn’t come to the National Assembly on the day when the resolution about the honour of the holy prophet (PBUH) was presented and that the resolution was tabled by a private member. She said the government has fooled the nation and tried to get rid of the issue in a very bad way.

PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said Imran Khan's flaming prejudice and vengeance for political victimization can only be satiated if a branch of Adyala Jail, Central Jail and Camp Jail is opened at Bani Gala where he could lock up, witness and torture his political rivals.

Taking to the media outside the accountability court on Wednesday, she said the level of shamelessness with which Imran lies is astounding. She said Maryam Nawaz refused any preferential treatment despite it being her constitutional right. Rana Sanaullah, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Kamran Michael, Saad Rafiq, Salman Rafiq were kept in death row cells that were so small that they couldn't even lay down and used to sleep while sitting. Shahbaz and Hamza too were never given any preferential treatment in jail but the compulsive pathological liar Imran Khan continued to mislead the nation, she claimed.

All claims about providing relief to the masses were nothing but plain lies, she said and maintained that the government is giving relief, no doubt, but to the constriction mafia by giving them an open ticket to launder their black money through amnesty schemes.

She pointed out that Imran said that political people use their influence to dodge accountability and get away with looted money. This actually applies purely to Imran who had used his power to guard high-powered mafias. Imran enabled the sugar crisis with his own will after which the price of sugar shot from Rs 52 to Rs 130. By Imran's signatures, sugar was exported creating shortage and later hoarded and imported. She said Imran patronizes these mafias because they are his ‘ATMs’ and they run all his expenditure including his house.

She said the nation is not impoverished by lack of resources but by the imposition of a selected, mandate-robbing, incompetent, corrupt leader who plummeted growth from 5.8 to minus 4 and jacked up inflation from 3 to 19 per cent in Ramazan. She slammed the long lines for just 1kg subsidized sugar and said this country will only see the light of hope when the PML-N returns to power and puts the nation back on the path to happiness and prosperity.