Court extends Shahbaz Sharif’s remand to November 7 in Ashiana Scam

Lahore: An accountability court on Monday extended to November 7 the remand in custody of Opposition leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif.

Sharif is facing charges of corruption in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing scheme.

Earlier, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials presented Sharif before Accountability Court Judge Syed Najamul Hassan, upon expiry of his initial 14 days’ remand.

An NAB prosecutor pleaded with the court to grant 14 days’ physical remand for further investigations.

He claimed that the Ashiana issue’s feasibility report was based on falsehoods.

The government lawyer contended that, due to illegal directions by Sharif, the national exchequer suffered a loss of millions of rupees.

He alleged that the scheme was used to benefit a private housing society.

He also requested the court to grant transit remand of the PML-N president as the Speaker National Assembly had issued his production orders for the session.

However, Sharif denied his involvement in the scam, saying that despite physical remand, the NAB had failed to find any evidence against him.

He submitted that the necessary medical facilities were not being provided to him by the bureau despite the fact that he was a cancer patient.

He said his family was also not being allowed to visit him.

Sharif’s counsel argued that all records had been provided to the bureau and no further physical remand was required in the case.

The court, after hearing arguments of both the parties, reserved its decision on the remand request for a short time but later extended it to November 7 and directed the authorities to present Sharif on expiry of the remand term.

The court also granted 3-day transit remand of Sharif.

Strict security arrangements were made inside and outside the court premises as Sharif was present in the court.

The NAB arrested Sharif on October 5, after he appeared before its combined investigation team in the Saaf Pani corruption case at the accountability watchdog’s Lahore office.

Sharif is accused of involvement in corruption in the Rs 14 billion Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme and Rs4 billion Punjab Saaf Pani Company case.

He had previously appeared before NAB on a couple of occasions in both the cases and recorded his statement.

Senior bureaucrat Fawad Hassan Fawad and Lahore Development Authority (LDA) former director general Ahad Cheema and others had already been arrested in connection with the housing scam.

NAB launched an investigation into the scam in November after receiving a number of complaints in this regard.