LAHORE: An accountability court on Wednesday adjourned proceedings in the Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme reference till August 7.
National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif, who is currently on bail, and former premier Nawaz Sharif’s Principal Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad, who had become an approver in the case, and other suspects, were produced before the court in strict security arrangements.
As the hearing went underway, Shehbaz asserted that “this case is waste of time as our [PML-N’s] government had caught this fraud [related to the housing scheme]”.
On the other hand, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor pleaded with the court to proceed with the case as “Shehbaz Sharif has been wasting the court’s time”.
In the previous hearing, Sharif’s counsel Amjad Pervez cross-examined witness Sidra Mansoor and asked upon whose directives she had produced before the record.
To this, she answered that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) had asked her about the record.
The defense counsel further asked her whether the in-charge [of the SECP] had given her any written directives over the matter.
To which, she responded that in-charge Liaquat Ali had given her verbal directives, and the same record, which was submitted with the NAB, was presented in the court. Moreover, she said she had been included in the investigation process on May 30 last year.
On February 18, Accountability Judge Syed Najmul Hassan had indicted 10 suspects, including Shehbaz Sharif, in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing scam case.
All the accused rejected the charges and pleaded not guilty. The PML-N president had sworn that the case against him was false and affirmed to bring facts in front of the nation.
Fawad Hassan Fawad, in his statement before the accountability watchdog, had claimed that he had awarded a contract to a “favorite firm” in the Ashiana Housing project “at the behest of then Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif”.
On October 5, 2018, the NAB had arrested Shehbaz Sharif in the scam and was charged with awarding illegal contracts to his favorite firm.
He was apprehended during his appearance before NAB in Saaf Pani Company scam. Sources told that three files were tabled before him. The Bureau quizzed Sharif regarding a tender awarded to a private consultancy company for a survey of the Saaf Pani company.
On February 15, LHC had ordered to release Shehbaz Sharif after approving his bail plea.
The NAB in the reference alleged that Sharif, being the chief minister of Punjab, misused his authority by unlawfully assuming powers of the board of directors of Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC). It said he in connivance with his co-suspects awarded the contract to an ineligible proxy firm that resulted in the failure of heavily financed Ashiana Housing scheme causing an enormous loss to the public exchequer.