LAHORE: An anti-corruption court on Monday reserved its verdict in Ramzan Sugar Mills case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza after defence and prosecution concluded their arguments.

During the proceedings, ACE Prosecutor Mian Waseem presented his arguments, saying the complainant in the case had resiled from his earlier statement. He said former MPA Rehmat Ali, on whose request the waste water drain was built, had passed away.

The prosecutor asked the court to go through the case record and decide theacquittal pleas of the accused persons accordingly.

Defence counsel Amjad Pervez reiterated that the directive for the drain`s construction was not issued by the then chief minister, but was approved by the Punjab cabinet as part of a development scheme for the area.

He argued that no government official had testified to being pressured into approving the project. He further stated that the case was politically motivated.

He urged the court to acquit PM Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz.

Judge Sardar Muhammad Iqbal Dogar said the decision would be announced on Feb 6.

At a previous hearing, the complainant,Zulfiqar Ali, in the sugar mills case had resiled from his statement during a crossexamination. The complainant stated that he had no knowledge of the case.

He also submitted an affidavit to the court, admitting that the construction of the waste water drain in Chiniot did not cause any loss to the national exchequer.

Zulfiqar clarified that he was unaware of the details of the petition, therefore, wished to withdraw it.

On Oct 17, an accountability court had transferred the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference to the anti-corruption court for lack of jurisdiction following amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

The NAB, after the amendment, can-not prosecute an alleged offence involving money less than Rs500 million and the offence amount in the mills reference was below the minimum value.

The accountability court was informed that NAB, in its reference, had made a case of alleged corruption of Rs213m.

The NAB reference filed in 2018 alleged that PM Shehbaz, being the chief minister, and his son Hamza, with the abetment of each other, had caused a loss of Rs213m to the national exchequer by committing the offence of misuse of authority.

It said Mr Shehbaz had issued a directive for construction of a drain in Chiniot district primarily for the use of Ramzan Sugar Mills owned by his sons Hamza and Suleman.