LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan claimed on Sunday the federal and Punjab governments were behind the provincial bureaucracy’s protest over the arrest of a grade-20 officer in a housing scheme scam.
Speaking to the media here, the PPP leader said civil officers’ protest was a revolt against the state and called for action against them.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif were just the blue-eyed persons, but brats, Aitzaz said and added they wanted a judge like Justice Abdul Qayyum and a bureaucrat like Ahad Cheema.
He called for registration of cases against all those who resorted to strike over the arrest of Cheema.
On Thursday, an accountability court in Lahore granted 11-day physical remand of Ahad Cheema, former director general of Lahore Development Authority (LDA), in the Ashiana Housing Scheme scam for questioning.
His arrest has drawn sharp reaction from a quarter of the Punjab bureaucracy and some PML-N leaders in the provincial assembly.
According to the NAB notice, an inquiry against officials of the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) and LDA revealed that “prima facie Shahbaz Sharif, being the Chief Minister Punjab, had ordered certain illegal acts in sheer violation of the laid down procedures for functioning of PLDC due to which the company bore a huge financial loss.”
“Shahbaz had ordered cancellation of contract of Aashiana-e-Iqbal to a successful bidder, leading to award of the contract to other builder, which resulted into a loss of Rs 193 million approximately,” the notice reads.
He also directed PLDC to assign the project of Aashiana-e-Iqbal to LDA resulting into award of contracts to M/s Lahore Casa Developers (JV), thus causing loss of Rs 715 million approximately and ultimately failure of the project, according to the notice.
It says the chief minister had also directed PLDC to award consultancy services of Aashiana-e-Iqbal project for Rs 192 million approximately, but its actual cost was Rs 35 million.
Leave a Comment