Ashiana Scam: Court Extends Judicial Remand Of Fawad,Ahad

An accountability court on Wednesday extended judicial remand of senior bureaucrat Fawad Hassan Fawad, former director general Lahore Development Authority Ahad Cheema and others till November 29 in Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing scam.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Nov, 2018 ) :An accountability court on Wednesday extended judicial remand of senior bureaucrat Fawad Hassan Fawad, former director general Lahore Development Authority Ahad Cheema and others till November 29 in Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing scam.

Besides Fawad and Ahad,Shahid Shafiq Faridi,Imtiaz Haider,Bilal Qidwai and others were produced before Accountability Court Judge Syed Najamul Hassan on the expiry of their judicial remand term.

During the proceedings, the court heard arguments of parties on an application by Fawad Hassan Fawad for return of his Laptop and other materials taken into custody by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at time of his arrest.

The court allowed the application and ordered to return his materials while extending the judicial remand of all accused till Nov 29.

The NAB had already filed a reference against Cheema and five others over their alleged role in Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing scam.

According to the reference, Ahad Cheema caused a loss of Rs 660 million to the national exchequer in the Ashiana scam.

The project cost increased to Rs 3.4 billion, while 61,000 people who had applied for plots in the project suffered.

However, the NAB had not filed reference against Fawad Hassan Fawad in the scam yet.

It is pertinent to mention that the NAB had also arrested Opposition Leader in National Assembly Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in connection with Ashiana scam and he was on physical remand.

The contract for the housing scheme was won by a construction company titled Chaudhry Latif and Sons but former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and his aides awarded the Rs 14 billion contract to Lahore Casa Developers which was ineligible for the purpose.

Due to allegedly illegal cancellation of the contract, the government had to pay damages to the contractor.The cancellation of the contract also delayed the project, resulting in billions of rupees escalation of the cost.