Court resents Shehbaz's absence in Ashiana case hearing

LAHORE: An accountability court on Thursday expressed displeasure over the authorities concerned for failing to produce Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif before it on completion of his transit remand.

The accountability court judge resumed hearing into the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Society scam today as former principal secretary of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Fawad Hassan Fawad, former Land and Development Authority (LDA) director general Ahad Cheema, and other accused appeared in the court.

The court issued warrants for the arrest of two suspects Nadeem Zia and Khalid Hussain over their failure to show up before it.

As the hearing went underway, the accountability judge asked a NAB prosecutor about the whereabouts of Shehbaz Sharif, to which he replied the PML-N president was in Islamabad in connection with meetings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

A jail official submitted a production order of Mr Sharif in the court.

“The transit remand of Shehbaz Sharif was granted until the completion of National Assembly session,” the judge pointed out and questioned why he wasn’t produced in the court thereafter.

“The court couldn’t be kept in the dark like this,” he remarked.

The prosecutor said the National Assembly speaker is empowered to issue production order of the opposition leader.

The judge adjourned the hearing till Jan 7 and ordered the jail authorities to produce all the suspects in the court on next hearing.