LAHORE: An accountability court on Wednesday acquitted Kamran Kiyani, brother of former army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani, and Nadeem Zia of Paragon City in Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme reference.

Allowing acquittal applications of both, Judge Ali Zulqarnain Awan observed that the evidence presented by the prosecution was insufficient to indict the suspects and put them to trial.

Both suspects were present in the court when the judge announced the decision.

Kiyani and Zia had been declared proclaimed offenders in the reference and surrendered before the court last year.

After securing pre-arrest bail from the court, they filed acquittal applications.

Acquittal applications of former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and former head of Lahore Development Authority Ahad Khan Cheema are also pending with the court.

The NAB had already given a clean chit to Shehbaz in the housing scheme reference.

A supplementary reference filed by the bureau in May said no evidence of financial corruption or misuse of authority was available against Shehbaz.

The NAB maintained that the offence of misuse of authority and corruption against Shehbaz had not been established under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

A fresh evaluation of old and new evidence was approved by the NAB chairman on an application of Ahad Cheema.

The NAB had arrested Shehbaz in October 2018 in the housing scheme reference when he appeared before it to join investigation in another inquiry related to the Punjab Saaf Pani Company.

Shehbaz spent a total of 85 days in the NAB custody in the Ashiana-i-Iqbal and Ramzan Sugar Mills references during 2018. The Lahore High Court had released Shehbaz on bail in both references on Feb 14, 2019.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2023