Asad Umar denies govt role in Shehbaz Sharif’s arrest

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance, Asad Umar has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), government had no role in arrest of former chief minister Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was an independent institution of the country, he stated while talking to a private news channel.

The arrest of Shehbaz Sharif, who involved in Ashiana Housing Scheme scandal, was made according to law of the country.

While, he said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was released on the orders of court.
To a question, he said that present government had nothing to do with the former chief minister, adding that NAB was investigating the matters on corruption charges.

Following the law, the former chief minister was apprehended after the orders of NAB, he stated. To a question about inflation, he said that the government was trying to tackle the issue of price hike.

The Bureau a day earlier arrested the PML-N president, who is the Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, inside its Lahore office where he was summoned to record his statement in connection with the Punjab Saaf Pani Company case.

Shahbaz’s close aides, Lahore Development Authority former director general Ahad Cheema and Fawad Hasan Fawad, are already in NAB custody in the Ashiana Housing case.

Fawad Hasan Fawad, former principal secretary to ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in his statement before NAB in August claimed that he had awarded a contract to a “favourite firm” in the Rs14bn Ashiana Housing project on Shahbaz’s behest.

The Bureau had summoned Shahbaz Sharif in the Ashiana Housing scam in August .

According to NAB, “the contract for the housing scheme was won by a construction company titled Chaudhry Latif and Sons but former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and his aides awarded the Rs 14 billion contract to Lahore Casa Developers – a proxy group of Paragon City (Pvt) Limited, which is said to be owned by Railways Minister Saad Rafique”.