LAHORE: Former Punjab chief minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday appeared before an accountability court in the Ashiana Housing Scheme case.
Sharif said that he had not committed any corruption and that all cases against him were politically motivated.
Accountability Judge Amjad Nazeer Chaudhry in response said that truth would be uncovered after the trial is completed.
During the proceedings, Shehbaz Sharif requested the court for exemption from personal appearance at hearings due to backache. “It’s troubling for me to appear in court since I’m suffering from severe back pain,” Sharif said.
At this, the court observed that the request for exemption would be considered only after testimonies are recorded.
NAB arrested Shehbaz Sharif last year on Oct 5 for his role in Ashiana Housing Scheme scam. It was alleged that Shehbaz Sharif as chief minister had awarded contracts to a firm he favored.
According to reports, a lucrative sum of Rs1.5 billion was also wasted in connection with the housing project without conducting any proper survey.
Fawad Hassan Fawad, the principal secretary to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, became an approver in the case, saying that he had awarded a contract to Lahore’s Casa Developer, bypassing merit, on the insistence of Shehbaz Sharif.
NAB has said that Chaudhary Latif and Sons was the company that won the contract but the contract was instead given to Lahore’s Casa Developers — a proxy group of Paragon City (Pvt) Limited — which is said to be owned by former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique.