Ashiana Housing scam: Shehbaz's physical remand extended till Nov 7

The remand was set to expire on October 30.

LAHORE (Dunya News) – Accountability court on Monday has extended physical remand of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly (NA) Shehbaz Sharif till November 7 and handed him over to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe Ashiana Housing scandal.

Shehbaz Sharif, who was arrested by NAB on October 5, was produced before the court, day ahead of the expiry of his 14- day physical remand.

Justice Najam-ul-Hassan heard the case during which, Shehbaz Sharif said that he is being trialed in fake cases and that he has answered all the queries of NAB related to Ashiana Housing scam, Saaf Pani scandal and laptop scheme. 

I have been punished for saving million of rupees of the country by honestly serving the nation, he added.

The PML-N president said that issues related to his health are being neglected in NAB custody and that he has asked for few necessary medical tests but the bureau officials told they have not received any order in this regard from the ‘higher authority’.

Meanwhile, harsh words were also exchanged when NAB prosecutor interrupted Shehbaz and asked him to talk on the case only.

The court briefly reserved its verdict and announced it extending PML-N president’s physical remand till November 7. A three-day transit remand of ex-Chief Minister of Punjab (CM) has also been approved to attend the National Assembly session being held today.

The remand was set to expire on October 30 but the anti-graft watchdog had decided to present Shehbaz before the court one day before the expiry of his physical remand, owing to a local holiday in Lahore in connection with annual urs of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh (RA).

Asset beyond income case

NAB had approved an inquiry against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president in a case pertaining to assets beyond income.

Physical remand extended

Earlier, an accountability court in Lahore had extended Shehbaz‘s physical remand to the anti-graft watchdog for 14 days after his previous 10-day remand ended on October 16.

During the proceedings, Shehbaz maintained he himself ordered investigation into corruption allegations in the housing scheme and denies awarding contracts to a favorite firm.

Shehbaz Sharif arrested

PML-N president was arrested on October 5 after appearing before the NAB team in Saaf Paani Company scheme. NAB said Shehbaz failed to satisfy the investigation team regarding a tender awarded to a private consultancy firm and was therefore arrested.

The anti-graft watchdog said the firm did not conduct any kind of survey but nevertheless was provided a lucrative sum of 1.5 billion rupees. It added that Fawad Hassan Fawad, the principal secretary of former premier Nawaz Sharif, had become an approver in the case.

Fawad, in his statement, had claimed that he had awarded a contract to a “favourite firm” in the Rs14 billion Ashiana Housing project at the behest of Shehbaz Sharif.

The anti-graft agency said that the contract for the housing scheme was won by a construction company titled Chaudhry Latif and Sons but Sharif cancelled it and later on awarded the contract to Lahore Casa Developers - a proxy group of Paragon City (Pvt) Limited, which is said to be owned by former Railways minister Saad Rafique.