An anti-corruption court in Lahore on Thursday extended the interim bail granted to the daughter and son-in-law of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Ramzan Sugar Mills reference until May 4.
Rabia Imran and her husband Imran Ali appeared in the court.
The court also sought arguments at the next hearing.
Judge Javed Iqbal Warraich heard the case.
Both husband and wife, who had been declared proclaimed offenders (POs) due to their failure to turn up in the court because of their stay abroad, had filed a petition in an accountability court (AC), seeking an interim bail in the case.
Later, due to change in the jurisdiction of the AC, the petition was transferred to an anti-corruption court in 2024.
Both PM Shehbaz and his son Hamza Shehbaz have already been acquitted in the case.
The case revolved around the allegation of building a nullah for Ramzan Sugar Mills from government expenses.
However, later, Zulfiqar, the complainant in the case, withdrew the allegation.
PM Shehbaz’s lawyer’s argument was that the nullah was part of a development scheme that was meant for the entire area, and that the scheme had been approved on the recommendation of MPA Rehmat Ali.
The lawyer had further argued that the nullah had not been built to cause any benefit to the mills, and that the mills owner paid fee for the discharge of waste into the nullah. “It had been built for the benefit of 10 villages of Chiniot,” he had said.
The complainant in the case, too, had admitted that the nullah was meant to benefit these villages.
The counsel had said that the NAB’s allegations were baseless and were merely fables. “These allegations were nothing but a political witch-hunt,” the lawyer opined.
