NAB gets 7-day physical remand of Ashiana Housing Scheme contractor

LAHORE: An accountability court here on Monday granted seven-day physical remand of the chief executive officer (CEO) of a private construction company in the Ashiana Housing Scheme scam. 

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) produced Bismillah Engineering Services CEO Shahid Shafiq before the court under stringent security measures to seek 15-day physical remand for interrogation.

At the outset of court proceedings, Shafiq’s lawyer Amjad Pervez pleaded with the court for submission of the medical report of his client in the courtroom. He asserted that his client has been subjected to torture and inhuman treatment during the custody.

The NAB prosecutor denied the allegations and presented the medical report of accused, which stated that the accused was not tortured and medically fit.

At which, the defence lawyer contended that the medical report has been manipulated and prepared at the whims of NAB officials.

The court then adjourned the hearing till March 5.

Earlier on Sunday, a local court judicial magistrate granted one-day physical remand of Shafiq to the anti-graft body.

According to NAB officials, Shafiq’s company was part of Lahore Casa Developers, a joint venture, that was unqualified for the contract.

The CEO was arrested on Saturday after it was discovered that a contract worth Rs 14 billion granted to his company.

Last week, the anti-corruption watchdog had arrested former Director General (DG) Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Ahad Cheema, drawing sharp reaction from a section of the Punjab bureaucracy and PML-N leaders.

Cheema, who is now serving as chief executive of the Punjab Power Company, was arrested from his office located in Gulbarg area of Lahore.

The former LDA chief has been accused of misusing his authority with criminal intent to award a contract to Bismillah Engineering on the basis of nepotism.

The anti-graft body spokesperson alleged that Cheema caused a loss of Rs 455 million to the national exchequer after awarding contracts on favouritism.

On Friday, the NAB investigators obtained access to mobile and laptop data of Cheema to investigate the data and emails. It was then said that the investigators would also approach technical experts to secure and restore the data which had been either formatted or deleted.

Ahad Cheema’s physical remand

On Thursday, an accountability court in Lahore granted the NAB 11-day physical remand of Cheema in the Ashiana Housing Scheme scam.

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.