Pakistan accountability court acquits former PM Shehbaz Sharif, others in corruption case

LAHORE: Pakistan's former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and two members of the incumbent federal caretaker cabinet were acquitted in a mega housing corruption scam on Saturday. Accountability Court Lahore Judge Ali Zulqarnain Awan acquitted Shehbaz, federal cabinet members -- Fawad Hassan Fawad and Ahad Khan Cheema -- and others in the mega Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme corruption case on the report of the national anti-graft body.

Shehbaz Sharif, 72, is the younger brother of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua submitted a report on the interpretation of a recent order by the Supreme Court wherein the trial courts had been restrained from announcing final orders till a decision on appeals against a judgment on the amendments in the law.

"The stay order of the apex court does not apply to acquittal applications in hand as the trial court heard them on merits and the defunct amendments in the law had nothing to do with the proceedings," he told the court.

After going through the NAB's report, the judge allowed the applications of the accused persons and acquitted them in the reference. The judge observed: "There is no probability of the conviction in the case."

Since the ouster of former premier Imran Khan in April 2022, the Sharif brothers - Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif - and other members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party have been getting relief from courts in one corruption case or another.