An accountability court in Lahore issued on Thursday the detailed verdict of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s acquittal in a graft reference pertaining to the alleged illegal allotment of plots in 1986.
The written order states that the proper procedure had not been followed while declaring Nawaz a proclaimed offender in the related National Accountability Bureau reference.
It further added that the Pakistan Muslim League-N supremo had been subjected to “political victimisation” through this case and directed the anti-graft watchdog and revenue authorities to release any seized properties of Nawaz and other applicants in this case.
The reference in question, filed during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s tenure in the federal government in 2020, had accused Nawaz of conniving with Jang Group owner Mir Shakilur Rahman for illegal allotment of land in Block-H, Johar Town, Lahore in 1986. The reference alleged that Rahman had illegally registered 54 one-kanal plots of land against the exemption policy and the law for monetary gains and Nawaz, who was then chief minister of Punjab had facilitated this.
Nawaz had been declared a proclaimed offender in the case for repeatedly failing to appear before the court as NAB pursued the case.
Last month, an accountability court announced Nawaz’s acquittal in a short order while hearing separate pleas filed by the PML-N chief’s relatives against the auction of assets owned by him. Rahman was acquitted in the case in January 2022.
