Shehbaz Sharif taken into custody following National Assembly session
The opposition leader will be shifted to Lahore tonight.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – A team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Wednesday took Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif into custody.
National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser had issued production orders for Shehbaz Sharif to attend the session on lower house, which had been summoned on the request of the opposition.
The NAB team took the opposition leader into custody after the session. He will be shifted to Lahore tonight as part of the bureau’s investigation into a graft case.
Earlier, several Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) including Rana Sanuallah, Ahsan Iqbal, and Khawaja Muhammad Asif met the oppositon leader in his chamber in the parliament building.
The discussed National Assembly proceedings, the upcoming session of the lower house, NAB cases against Shehbaz Sharif, and overall political situation in the country.
‘PTI and NAB are arm in arm’
The PML-N president in his address criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan and termed him as a product of rigged elections. He claimed, “My arrest was aimed at getting desired results in the by-polls.”
“It is first time in political history that an opposition leader has been arrested in ungraceful way, however, I would not discuss merit of NAB case against me,” he added.
Speaking about Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing scheme, he said, “I am charged with cajoling former Army Chief Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani.”
“I am charged with awarding Ashiana Housing Scheme contract to Kamran Kiyani but the reality is that Pervaiz Musharraf and Pervez Elahi government gave the contract to Kamran Kiyani and I canceled it.
“NAB has charged me not with corruption but exceeding powers in Ashiana Housing Scheme,” he added.
He said, “NAB summoned me to question about Saaf Pani Case, but arrested me in Ashiana Housing case. NAB has studied the whole case but feigned ignorance about the facts.”
Physical remand extended
An accountability court in Lahore had extended Shehbaz Sharif’s physical remand to the anti-graft watchdog for 14 days after his previous 10-day remand ended on October 16.
On Tuesday, the opposition leader appeared in the court amid strict security arrangements where he claimed innocence in a graft case pertaining to the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing scheme.
Shehbaz maintains he himself ordered investigation into corruption allegations in the housing scheme and denies awarding contracts to a favorite firm.
Arrested
He was arrested on Oct 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.
