An accountability court based in Lahore acquitted Mir Shakilur Rehman, the editor-in-chief of the Jang Media Group, of corruption charges on Monday.

Jang Media Group is Pakistan’s largest independent news conglomerate. The company owns popular news stations, such as Geo News, and numerous newspapers, including Jang and The News.

Rehman was arrested in 2020 by Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for illegally purchasing a plot of land in 1984. NAB claimed that the land was obtained by illegal collusion with Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. According to the reports, Sharif was then chief minister of Punjab and had allotted the land against the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Rules.

The alleged violation of the exemption policy had caused a loss of Rs 143.53 million to the national exchequer. After spending eight months in jail, Rehman was granted bail by Pakistan Supreme Court in November 2020. Sharif has been declared as proclaimed offender by the court.

Justice Asad Ali stated in the 20-page verdict that the prosecution did not have supportive material to prove the involvement of Rehman. Therefore, any further proceeding in this case would be a futile exercise.

After the verdict, Pakistani policy analyst and journalist Raza Ahmad Rumi called the case “bogus” and said that it was merely a witch-hunt of political opponents and media owners on the farce of accountability.