A Lahore accountability court acquitted on Saturday former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif in the Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme reference, Aaj News reported.

During the hearing today, the court accepted the application for acquittal filed by 10 suspects, including Shehbaz, Fawad Hassan Fawad, and Ahad Cheema. All have been acquitted.

An inquiry conducted in 2018 claimed that Shehbaz, then chief minister of Punjab, had unlawfully assumed powers of the Board of Directors of LDC and misused his authority, and acted in connivance with Fawad and others.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had alleged that Shehbaz and other accused persons caused a huge loss to the national exchequer by awarding the contract of the housing scheme to a company without bidding.

On May 20, NAB declared on Shehbaz "innocent" in the Ashiana Housing case.

In its report, NAB said that no concrete evidence of corruption or misuse of authority was found during their investigation. The bureau said that inquiry was conducted twice, and no evidence was discovered to support claims of any wrongdoing.

It also said no evidence was found of illegal use of powers against PM Shehbaz