LAHORE: Shahbaz Sharif pictured after coming out of the courtroom on Tuesday.—White Star
LAHORE: Shahbaz Sharif pictured after coming out of the courtroom on Tuesday.—White Star

LAHORE: An accountability court on Tuesday extended physical remand of the leader of opposition in the National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif, for 14 days in the Rs14 billion Ashiana-i-Iqbal housing scheme scam.

The court granted a two-day transit remand of Mr Sharif to NAB for production in the National Assembly on Wednesday (today). The NA secretariat had issued production orders to ensure presence of the leader of opposition in the session.

Unlike previous hearing, this time the NAB and police officials brought Mr Sharif to the Lahore Judicial Complex in a sports utility vehicle instead of an armoured vehicle.

PML-N chief happy over party’s good performance in recent by-elections

However, security arrangements were more or less unchanged as roads leading to the complex were cordoned off with deployment of a heavy police contingent in and outside the complex.

Media persons also struggled to reach the court as police personnel denied them entry to the complex.

PML-N workers who thronged the judicial complex were more in number than for the previous hearing. Police, however, did not allow them to enter the premises. Women police force removed some women workers from the area when they tried to create the law and order situation.

The police did not allow Lahore Mayor Mubashir Javed to enter the court premises.

Shahbaz Sharif’s sons Hamza and Salman, former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah, PML-N’s spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, Malik Mohammad Ahmad Khan, Shaista Pervez Malik, Saira Afzal Tarar and Azma Bokhari also reached there.

Shahbaz Sharif, looking calm and composed, chatted with Ms Aurangzeb and other leaders of his party outside the court before the hearing. He congratulated the leaders on good performance in the recent by-polls.

He said the two-month performance of the government had badly exposed its ability to run the country.

As the hearing resumed, NAB special prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua presented a report showing progress in the investigation and requested an extension in Shahbaz Sharif’s remand.

He said the former chief minister had been trying to conceal identity of the complainant on the basis of which contract of the housing scheme was withdrawn from the successful bidder on verbal orders by him (Sharif). He alleged that Shahbaz Sharif and other suspects caused a loss of Rs660 million to the exchequer.

The prosecutor said Mr Sharif had not so far responded to queries as to why he ordered the execution of the housing project under public-private partnership and entrusted it to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA). The accused was also yet to satisfy the bureau as to why he had given all directions to then LDA director general Ahad Khan Cheema, the prosecutor said.

Mr Janjua further said Mr Sharif had required relevant record, which had been provided to him and now he had sought time to respond to the queries.

Therefore, he asked the court to grant physical remand of the accused for another 15 days for completion of the investigation.

On behalf of Shahbaz Sharif, Advocate Amjad Pervez opposed the NAB’s request for further remand and argued that the bureau was delaying the investigation. He said no interrogators visited his client over the last three days during the custody. After hearing arguments from both sides, accountability court judge Syed Najamul Hassan Bokhari reserved the verdict. He delivered it after the departure of Mr Sharif back to the NAB office and extended his remand for 14 days. He directed the NAB to produce him again on Oct 30.

PML-N spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb condemned the provincial government for taking extraordinary security measures to stop party workers from meeting their leader. She said the government had imposed a virtual curfew around the judicial complex.

Ms Aurangzeb said the PML-N would soon be “on the container if political victimization” did not end. She alleged that the NAB had detained Shahbaz Sharif in a 10x10 lock-up with no facilities. She insisted that no public money had been used in the Ashiana housing scheme project, but the former chief minister had been implicated in false investigation.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2018

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