Ahad Cheema sent on judicial remand until July 4

Co-accused Shafiq also sent to jail

LAHORE: An accountability court on Tuesday sent former director-general Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Ahad Cheema on judicial remand until July 4.

Cheema has been accused of fraud and misuse of authority in Ashiyana-e-Iqbal Housing scheme by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) along with six others; proprieter of Bismillah Engineering Company Shahid Shafiq, PLDC official Imtiaz Haider and another PLDC official Bilal Qudwai, Israr Saeed and Arif Majeed.



Previously, he was sent on a 90-day physical remand while Shafiq served 87-days. Accountability Judge Syed Najamul Hasan on Tuesday sent Shafiq to jail.

During the hearing, NAB prosecutor said the Punjab Land Development Company had signed the agreement in January 2015 following which investors paid over Rs61 million for Ashiyana housing scheme. “The project remains incomplete after three years. Cheema allotted a Rs14 billion contract to Casa Developers  - a joint venture of three companies namely Bismillah Engineering Services, Suparco and China Group,” he said. “Bismillah Engineering Services is a subsidiary of Paragon City.”



NAB highlighted that the illegality in awarding contracts worth Rs15 million to a company. “The government has suffered loss of Rs64.50 million due to the negligence of the companies.”