An anti-corruption court on Thursday acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in the Ramzan Sugar Mill case after the defence and prosecution concluded their arguments.

In 2018, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against PM Shehbaz — who was the chief minister at the time — and his son Hamza, alleging that they had caused a loss of Rs213 million to the national exchequer by committing the offence of misuse of authority.

It had said Shehbaz had issued a directive for the construction of a drain in the Chiniot district primarily for the use of Ramzan Sugar Mills, owned by his sons Hamza and Suleman.

On Oct 17 2024, an accountability court had transferred the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference to the anti-corruption court due to lack of jurisdiction following amendments introduced in the National Accountability Ordinance 1999. The NAB, after the amendment, cannot prosecute an alleged offence involving money less than Rs500 million and the offence amount in the mills’ reference was below the minimum value.

The accountability court was informed that the NAB in its reference made a case of alleged corruption of Rs213 million.

Today, the court, which had previously reserved its verdict, accepted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz’s acquittal pleas.

The defence counsel, Amjad Pervaiz, had argued that the case was “politically motivated”, stating that the directive for the drain’s construction was not issued by the then chief minister, but was approved by the Punjab cabinet as part of a development scheme for the area.