LAHORE: An accountability court extended the judicial remand of Shehbaz Shairf, Fawad Hasan Fawad and Ahad Cheema for 13 days in Ashiana Iqbal Housing Scheme scandal.
According to details, an accountability court of Lahore on Friday heard the case as the National Accountability Bureau presented seven accused including former federal secretary Fawad Hasan Fawad and erstwhile Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general Ahad Cheema in the court.
Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, however, could not appear as he is currently attending the National Assembly session on the production order by the assembly’s Speaker.
Further, the NAB prosecutor informed the court that the supplementary references against Shehbaz and Fawad in Ashiana case will be filed within 2-3 days.
The anti-graft watchdog on Dec 19 informed the Supreme Court that supplementary references have been prepared against Shehbaz Sharif and Fawad Hasan Fawad and have been approved by Chairman NAB Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.
Ashiana Housing Scheme case
According to NAB, “the contract for the housing scheme was won by a construction company titled Chaudhry Latif and Sons but former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and his aides awarded the Rs 14 billion contract to Lahore Casa Developers – a proxy group of Paragon City (Pvt) Limited, which is said to be owned by Railways Minister Saad Rafique”.
As per law, it is illegal to make any agreement above Rs150 million with a single company.
“Fawad Hasan Fawad, who was implementation secretary to the chief minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif at the time, leveled charges of wrongdoings against Chaudhry Latif and Sons in order for the contract to be awarded to Casa Developers,” the anti-graft body claimed.
It was due to the hired company’s incompetence that the project could not be completed in three-year duration which brought upon a loss of Rs640 million to the government, NAB officials added.
