Ashiana reference not fit for trial of any accused: court

LAHORE: An accountability court issued a written order acquitting former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and others in the Ashiana Iqbal reference.

The court declared that the allegations against the accused in the Ashiana Iqbal reference were highly suspicious and unlikely to be proven. Judge Malik Ali Zulqarnain issued a 59-page written decision, which said that according to the supplementary report after the appointment of the new chairman, the reference was not fit for trial of any accused.

According to the supplementary report, the government treasury was not damaged in the project. According to the supplementary report of the NAB, the charges against any accused have not been proved. “In this reference, the court cannot ignore the prosecution’s decision. A copy of the decision should be sent to the Deputy Prosecutor General, NAB, Lahore,” it added.

The court wrote that according to the statement of witness Arif Majeed, the former NAB DG harassed him to testify against Shehbaz Sharif. “According to witness Arif Majeed, when he refused, the then NAB DG made a false case of the LOS drain against him. The court approves acquittal pleas of Shehbaz Sharif and others,” the judge wrote.