Housing scam: NAB arrests former LDA chief

NAB arrested former LDA director Cheema for alleged corruption in Ashiana Housing Scheme, low-cost housing project

LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general Ahad Khan Cheema for alleged corruption in Ashiana Housing Scheme, a low-cost housing project of the Punjab government.

NAB Lahore officials, on Wednesday, had taken the incumbent chief executive officer of the Punjab Thermal Power Ltd, Cheema, into custody from his office on M M Alam Road in Gulberg area. Cheema was facing allegations of illegally allotting land for the housing scheme.

A NAB official said the anti-graft watchdog had summoned Cheema twice for inquiry but he did not show up. He said the former LDA director general would now be presented before an accountability court for judicial remand.

The NAB is conducting an inquiry against officials of the LDA, the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC), the Lahore Casa Developers and others. A few months ago, the NAB had also summoned the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Fawad Hassan Fawad to probe alleged irregularities in the PLDC, the parent company of the Ashiana Housing Scheme.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2018.