Shehbaz Sharif's remand extended by 14 days in Ashiana scam case

He was arrested in Ashiana Housing Scheme scam on Oct 5

LAHORE: An accountability court on Tuesday extended for 14 days the remand of Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, who is currently in the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) custody in connection with a probe into the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme scam.

The court; however, allowed Shehbaz two days transit remand so that he may attend the National Assembly session scheduled for today (Wednesday) to discuss his arrest on October 5.

On Tuesday, Shehbaz was brought to the court on a vehicle with tainted glass amid heightened security. A large number of police officials -- including personnel of the Anti-Riot Police Force (ARF) -- were deployed in court premises to maintain law and order.

The police had also blocked the roads leading to the accountability court, causing lot of difficulties for general public and complainants visiting the court.

A large number of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers and leaders -- including party spokesperson Marriyum Aruangzeb, Salman Shehbaz and Hamza Shehbaz were also present.

When Shehbaz was presented before the accountability court judge, the NAB prosecutor requested the court for granting a 15-day extension in the physical remand of the accused.



Presenting arguments, he said the investigators had asked the former Punjab chief minister about filing of the complaint regarding tendering of the project. However, the accused had been concealing name of person who made the verbal complaint.

He said the accused also did not reply to a query about accepting the complaint after grievance period. Shehbaz also could not submit a reply before NAB investigations team about not referring the matter to the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) Board which was the competent authority, he added.

He said the accused was also  inquired about processing the complaint after having knowledge that complainant bidder was not a genuine bidder and his documents were added in process after due date. However, the accused could not give a suitable answer, he added.

The prosecutor told the court that the accused was also questioned about writing a letter for cancellation of the contract on 15 March 2013, before referring the matter to Anti-Corruption Punjab.

Moreover, the accused was also confronted with disclosures of Fawad Hassan Fawad who had divulged that Shehbaz directed him to call the PLDC management for discussing the award of contract. The accused, he said, replied that he did not remember whether he passed such orders and he needed more time to examine the record and answer this question.

He argued that NAB asked him about issuance of direction to undertake the project under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and questioned as to why he had given all directions to the LDA then director general Ahad Khan Cheema.

However, the accused failed to submit a reply about the motives behind his orders.  He was also directed to provide relevant record. However, he sought time to go through the entire record before giving his version, the prosecutor said.

Counsel of Shehbaz, Amjad Parvez, argued that NAB is reiterating old allegations as it has no evidence. He said NAB has alleged that his client had ordered for cancellation of the contract which is a false allegation. He said the contact was not cancelled by his client but the PLDC cancelled the contract.

He argued that when his client came to know about the irregularities in the contract, an inquiry committee was constituted and in the light of the report of that inquiry committee the matter was referred to Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE).



Shehbaz’s counsel said the CDR submitted by Chaudhary Latif and Sons was a forged document. The counsel implored the court that under these circumstances further remand of his client is unnecessary.

Shehbaz also spoke on the occasion and said he fully cooperated with NAB and also appeared before the investigations team whenever summoned. He said he answered all the questions asked by NAB during his remand and reiterated his stance that he neither misused his authority nor indulged in corruption.

He said he did not issue any illegal orders and has saved the public money. “I am fully cooperating with NAB during investigations then why are they requesting for extension of the remand? The cases and allegations against me as politically motivated,” he added.

After hearing arguments of both sides, the court granted a 14-days extension Shehbaz’s remand.