Lahore: The accountability court acquitted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a 37-year-old private property reference.
Judge Rao Abdul Jabbar pronounced the verdict. Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer argued that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a reference against his client on the basis of malice, Nawaz Sharif had no role in the allotment of plots. He said that a case cannot be filed under the new law.
The council said that all the other accused in the case have already been acquitted of the charges. The lawyer argued that even an ad hominem offender can be acquitted in case of insufficient evidence.
NAB prosecution did not object to the acquittal of Nawaz Sharif. The court acquitted the former prime minister after hearing the lawyers’ position.
NAB had alleged that the former prime minister, when he was the chief minister of Punjab, illegally allotted 54 plots of a canal in Block H Johar Town, Lahore. It is alleged that the accused caused a loss of 143 million rupees to the national exchequer through the allotment of land.
