LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore on Monday filed a second corruption reference against former senior bureaucrat Fawad Hasan Fawad for possessing assets beyond known sources of income.
The NAB reference alleges that Fawad accumulated Rs1.09 billion worth of illegal assets, including a five-kanal commercial plot in Rawalpindi’s Saddar area valued at around Rs50 million.
The former principal secretary to the prime minister is also a shareholder in a 15-storey commercial plaza located in the same area and valued at around Rs3.085bn, the reference adds.
According to the accountability watchdog, the inquiry against Fawad was converted into an investigation on Oct 12, 2018.
On March 15, NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal had given his approval, following which the reference has been filed against Fawad.
According to NAB Lahore Director General Shahzad Saleem, the NAB chairman is scrupulously following the bureau’s adopted policy of “across-the-board accountability”.
“We will keep on taking principled action in all corruption cases on the basis of merit and merit only,” the DG NAB Lahore said.
Fawad, the former principal secretary to incarcerated ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, is already battling a NAB reference in the Rs14bn Ashiyana-i-Iqbal housing scam. He is one of the co-accused in the case alongside former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif.
According to NAB, Fawad, while serving as implementation secretary to the Punjab chief minister in the Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing project, had misused his authority.
The bureau had arrested Fawad in July 2018 after reportedly detecting properties worth billions of rupees. Days later, NAB had raided his residence in GOR-I and seized crucial documents and electronic devices.
In Dec 2018, NAB had filed supplementary cases against Fawad and others, including Shehbaz.