An accountability court in Lahore has acquitted former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif in the Ashiana Iqbal Housing Project reference. Other accused including former director general of Lahore Development Authority Ahad Khan Cheema and interim Minister for Privatization Fawad Hassan Fawad were also exonerated in the reference. Judge Ali Zulqarnain Awan announced the reserved verdict on Saturday. The other co-accused in the Ashiana reference were: Munir Zia, Imtiaz Haider, Bilal Qadwai, Sajjad Bhatta, and Shahid Mehmood.In his verdict, judge Ali Zulqarnain Awan said that allegations of corruption against Shehbaz Sharif, Ahad Khan Cheema and others could not be proved. The NAB report had already given a clean chit to all the accused, the judge added.

The court has been told that the decision of the Supreme Court does not stop the trial court from deciding the Ashiana reference.According to the verdict, the accused did not take any advantage in the Ashiana case. The hearing on the case was held on merit in the accountability court. The court did not find evidence of corruption against the accused, the accused should be acquitted.Shehbaz’s lawyer told the court that in the Ashiana Iqbal Project, not a single penny was lost to the national kitty and none of the accused got any financial benefit. He said that two other accused Naeem Zia Pirzada and Kamran Kayani were already acquitted in the case.

 He said that the Ashiana reference was filed in 2018 and nothing was proved during the last five years.The lawyer said that the reference was made to politically victimize Shehbaz Sharif and Ahmed Cheema. They were sent to jail in bogus reference.Earlier in May this year, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had clered Shehbaz Sharif, the then prime minister, in the Ashiana Housing scandal.The Ashiana Housing scandal, which involved allegations of irregularities, had been a highly contentious issue. However, NAB’s report had stated that no concrete evidence of corruption or misuse of authority was found during Bureau’s inquiry which led it to give clean chit to Shehbaz Sharif.

The report submitted by NAB officials in court had also emphasized that the accusations against Shehbaz Sharif in the Ashiana Housing scandal could not be substantiated. The inquiry was conducted twice, and no evidence was discovered to support claims of any wrongdoing.The NAB report had further highlighted that Shehbaz Sharif did not derive any personal benefits from the Ashiana Housing project. The evidence presented had indicated that public officeholders did not exploit their positions for personal gain, nor did they cause any financial losses to the government treasury.Furthermore, the NAB report had also cleared Fawad Hassan Fawad and Kamran Kayani from allegations of accepting bribes for awarding contracts.The NAB report had confirmed that the contract for the Ashiana Housing Scheme was awarded in accordance with the law and anti-corruption laws were strictly followed during the process.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)