Shehbaz Sharif, others acquitted in Aashiana Iqbal reference case

LAHORE: An Accountability Court in Lahore announced a reserved verdict on Saturday, acquitting former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and ten others accused in the Aashiana Iqbal reference case.

The court accepted the application for acquittal filed by the defendants, including Fawad Hassan Fawad and Ahad Cheema. The acquittal petitions maintained that the corruption allegations related to the Aashiana Iqbal project were baseless.

In addition to the Pakistan Muslime League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shehbaz Sharif, the list of acquitted individuals includes Imtiaz Haider, Bilal Kidwai, Shahid Mahmood, Munir Zia, Shahid Shafiq, Ali Sajjad Bhutta, and Muhammad Sadiq. The remaining two accused, Nadeem Zia and Kamran Kiani, had already been acquitted in the same case.

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The court had reserved its verdict earlier in the day after considering arguments from both defense and prosecution lawyers. During the hearing of the acquittal applications, reports from the Attorney General and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were submitted.

The NAB prosecutor informed the court that the Supreme Court’s verdict did not impact the specific case under consideration. Shehbaz Sharif’s lawyer, Amjad Pervaiz, stated that the court sought clarification on the NAB’s stance, with both the bureau and the attorney general asserting that the Supreme Court’s decision did not affect this particular case.

Anwar Hussain, representing Shehbaz Sharif, appeared in court on his client’s behalf to fulfil the appearance requirement.

The Aashiana Iqbal reference case was filed in 2018, alleging that Shehbaz Sharif and others had caused a financial loss to the national exchequer by awarding a contract to a single company.