LAHORE: Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog on Saturday declared Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “innocent” in the Ashiana-i-Iqbal housing scheme case, local media reported, adding that “no evidence” of misuse of powers was found against him.

The scandal first emerged in January 2018, accusing then opposition leader Sharif of ordering cancelation of a contract given to successful bidder, M/s Chaudhry Latif and Sons, for the Ashiana-i-Iqbal housing scheme, that led to the subsequent award of the contract to Lahore Casa Developers, a proxy group of the Paragon City Private Limited, resulting in a loss of Rs193 million.

Sharif was also accused of directing the Punjab Land Development Company to assign the Ashiana-i-Iqbal housing project to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), which awarded the contract to Lahore Casa developers, causing a loss of Rs715 million and the ultimate failure of the project.

But the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in its report on Saturday said that no loss was made to the national kitty, neither did PM Sharif get any financial benefit from the project, according to local media reports.

“It is proved beyond any doubt that the treasury didn’t suffer any loss,” Pakistan’s Geo news channel quoted NAB as stating in its report.

“No evidence of misuse of powers was found against Shahbaz Sharif.”

NAB also cleared co-accused, including bureaucrats Fawad Hasan Fawad and Ahad Khan Cheema, and Kamran Kiani, brother of former army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kiani, of any wrongdoing in the matter.

Last month, an accountability court had issued notices to NAB seeking its reply on Sharif and Cheema’s pleas for acquittal in the case.

In its reply submitted to the accountability court on Saturday, NAB stated that Sharif had referred the matter of awarding the Ashiana-i-Iqbal project to M/s Chaudhry Latif & Sons to the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment “in accordance with law with no malafide intent,” which ultimately led to the cancelation of the contract.

“The accountability court should decide on Shehbaz Sharif’s plea for acquittal according to the law,” the NAB report concluded.

The development comes more than a week after the anti-graft body cleared Sharif, his family members and others in two cases registered against them for laundering money and possessing assets beyond their known sources of income.

Former premier Imran Khan has repeatedly accused the shaky coalition government of PM Sharif of using influence to get the names of treasury members cleared by the authorities in graft cases.

The latest report is expected to spark a controversy in the South Asian country, which has already been embroiled in political and economic crises for months.