Claiming he is innocent and has nothing to do with the corruption references filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly (NA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday that he had served people of Punjab for 10 years and had done nothing wrong, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Speaking at the rostrum during the hearing of a money laundering case at an accountability court (AC) in Lahore, Shehbaz Sharif claimed that his decisions rather benefitted the people of the province. “The decisions I took as Punjab chief minister had rather hurt my business interests,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, counsel for the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told the court that there were lots of proofs against Shehbaz Sharif and his son, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz in the money laundering case.
He read out the challan before the court.
When PML-N president presented arguments in his defence, the judge remarked presently it was of no use. “First of all we have to determine the court’s jurisdiction, and then we will decide on the case,” he remarked.
Later, handing copies of the challan to both Shehbaz and Hamza, the AC adjourned the hearing until December 24 for argumentation on the merits of challan, while it put off hearing of the bail petitions filed by the accused until January 4.
Meanwhile, speaking outside the accountability court, Hamza Shehbaz slammed the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government, saying it talked about making ‘Nya Pakistan’, but it ended up shaking the foundations of ‘Purana Pakistan’ instead. “Today, the situation is so pathetic that people have nothing to eat. So much so that even medicines are out of their reach now,” he said, and added the government had announced gas supply to the consumers three times a day. “But it has failed to fulfill that promise even,” he added.
Hamza said that day of reckoning for the PTI government had arrived. “It is a pity that while farmers are not getting fertilizers, the government is making claims of a ‘bumper’ wheat crop,” he regretted.
Reporter Jamaluddin Jamali