LHC dismisses NAB petitions against PM Shehbaz, CM Maryam as infructuous

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday disposed of petitions filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz after declaring them infructuous in view of their earlier acquittals in the respective corruption references.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Amjad Rafiq heard the petitions during separate proceedings. Representing NAB, Prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua informed the court that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had already been acquitted in 2023 in both the Ashiana Housing Reference and the Ramzan Sugar Mills Reference. He submitted that, following these acquittals, the petition filed by NAB no longer held any legal relevance.

Accepting the prosecutor’s submission, the court disposed of the petition. NAB Lahore had filed the plea in 2020, seeking the return of Shehbaz Sharif from abroad to face proceedings in the references, which have since concluded in his favour.

In a separate hearing, the same bench took up a petition filed by the NAB chairman against Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. Senior Prosecutor Janjua told the court that Maryam Nawaz had already been acquitted in the relevant NAB case, rendering the petition ineffective and devoid of any practical purpose.

The court subsequently disposed of the petition as infructuous.

It is noteworthy that the LHC had earlier granted bail to Maryam Nawaz in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case and ordered her release, while NAB had approached the court in March 2021 seeking cancellation of her bail. With Monday’s order, all pending NAB petitions before the LHC against the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister now stand disposed of, formally closing a series of legal proceedings that had remained pending for several years.