LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore has again summoned secretary to prime minister Fawad Hassan Fawad on Thursday (today) for his alleged role in awarding a contract to a firm in violation of rules in the Ashiana-i-Iqbal housing scam.

Mr Fawad had appeared before the NAB’s combined investigation team at its Lahore office and recorded his statement with regard to award and cancellation of the contract related to Ashiana-i-Iqbal housing project launched by the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC).

An official told Dawn that Mr Fawad had been summoned again after NAB got more information implicating him in the case. Mr Fawad was the implementation secretary to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in 2013 when he allegedly pressurised the PLDC chief executive officer (CEO) to award the contract to a ‘favourite’ firm.

Shahbaz Sharif had also appeared before the NAB and recorded his statement, while Lahore Development Authority former director general Ahad Cheema has been in the bureau’s custody in this case.

Meanwhile, NAB Lahore Director Shahzad Saleem handed over Rs4.4 million to a private bank official here on Thursday.

According to NAB, it launched a probe against the bank’s regional branch manager regarding embezzling the bank’s tax money. The inquiry into the case revealed involvement of the suspect, Muhammad Ahmad, ex-assistant manager, who misused his authority by withholding tax amounts.

It said the suspect allegedly misappropriated the bank’s tax amounts to the tune of Rs11.22 million, whereas he fraudulently got transferred the embezzled amount into his personal accounts.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2018