LAHORE: Two accountability courts on Thursday sent former chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and PPP leader, Asif Akhtar Hashmi, to jail on judicial remand in four references made by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him.

The NAB had filed two references of illegal appointments against Hashmi and one each about illegal allotment and unauthorised sale of the board’s precious land.

The bureau’s officials produced Asif Hashmi before judges Najamul Hassan and Muhammad Azam and sought extension in physical remand.

However, the judges turned down the requests and sent Hashmi to jail on judicial remand.

Hashmi served as the ETPB chairman between 2007 and 2013 and was recently taken into custody by the NAB after his arrival from the UAE.

The bureau alleged that Hashmi misused his authority, kept the respective ministry in the dark and misappropriated millions of rupees. It also accused Hashmi of selling 1,946 kanal land of the board to DHA on 25 per cent exemption basis in 2009.

In other reference, it alleged that the suspect made illegal investment worth Rs1,870 million with a private company namely M/s High Links (Pvt) Limited.

The NAB said Asif Hashmi ignored settled laws for the investment with the company and caused a huge loss to the national exchequer. The former chairman was also accused of making illegal recruitments in the board.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2018