Staff Reporter
Lahore
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-N President Shahbaz Sharif, during the hearing of the Ramzan Sugar Millls case, said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is aiming at defaming him, but it has in fact smeared Pakistan. The hearing was conducted in an accountability court in Lahore and Judge Muhammad Wasim Akhtar presided over the proceedings.
Shahbaz Sharif maintained that fake news was published against him in a foreign newspaper claiming that he embezzled earthquake funds. “May Allah always keep me away from such money,” he stressed.
The opposition leader affirmed that the National Accountability Bureau should file a case against him and bring him to the court if he really has embezzled the money.
The court inquired about Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz, to which the anti-corruption watchdog prosecutor replied that he could not be produced before the court as he is on judicial remand and being interrogated in assets case by the bureau.
Hamza Shahbaz’s counsel argued that it is violation of court orders to not present his client. The accountability court directed the anti-graft agency to produce Hamza Shahbaz in the next hearing and adjourned the proceedings till August 1.
Shahbaz said he considers stealing money from earthquake victims the same as “feeding on corpses”, as he responded to allegations levelled against him in a British newspaper.
Earlier this week, UK newspaper the Mail on Sunday had published an investigative story alleging that Shahbaz Sharif had stolen funds from the UK’s Department for International Development meant as aid for earthquake victims in Pakistan. Strict security arrangements were in place and a heavy contingent of police present outside the accountability court where a large number of PML-N activists had arrived for the hearing.
