NAB didn’t accuse Shehbaz of graft: LHC

Says Ashiana project was handed over to LDA after due approval

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has noted that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has not accused Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif of embezzlement in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme case and that the project was handed over to LDA after due approval.

Issuing separate verdicts in Ashiana and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases on Friday -- a week after accepting Shehbaz’s bail applications in the two cases -- the LHC said NAB has not accused the former Punjab chief minister of any monetary corruption.

The 22-page verdict said the Ashiana Housing project was handed over to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) after approval of the board of the Punjab Land Development Company’s (PLDC).

The verdict said Shehbaz Sharif, as chief minister, had the right to transfer the project. In Ashiana case, NAB had accused Shehbaz of illegal project transfer.



In its 20-page verdict with regard Ramzan Sugar Mills case, the LHC said apart from the drain, which, NAB accused, was built to benefit’s Shehbaz family’s private business, many such schemes were built in the area but NAB did not object to any other scheme.

It said the drain was constructed on the request of former MPA Maulana Rehmatullah but NAB, instead of nominating Rehmatullah as an accused, made him an approver in the case.

The verdict on Ashiana also discusses the case of senior bureaucrat Fawad Hassan Fawad, who was also granted bail in  the Ashiana scandal. It said Fawad had no role in cancellation of contract to Abdul Latif and Sons and the contract ended after mutual consensus.



It said Fawad Hassan Fawad was only working as the former CM Punjab’s post office. In Ashiana case, the LHC had accepted Fawad’s bail against a surety of Rs1 million.