LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lahore, raided a car showroom on Jail Road here on Monday and seized a luxury car and Rs14.5 million in cash allegedly belonging to former Lahore Development Authority director general Ahad Khan Cheema.

According to an official source, a NAB team in connection with the Rs14bn Ashiyana-i-Iqbal housing scam raided the showroom and seized a Prado worth Rs11m and Rs14.5m in cash which Ahad Cheema had allegedly hidden there.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s ‘blue-eyed officer’ Cheema remained in NAB’s custody for three months for allegedly misusing his authority and getting approved a fraudulent and illegal request by awarding contract of the Ashiyana-i-Iqbal project. He has been sent to jail on judicial remand.

During investigation so far NAB has unearthed over 90 kanal land worth millions of rupees which it said Cheema acquired through illegal means. Similarly, NAB is also probing into the assets of his family members.

“He also has shares of Rs400m in a society in Lahore,” the official said.

NAB had launched investigation into the scam in November last year after receiving a number of complaints regarding an ‘illegal deal’ involving 3,000 kanals between the Punjab Land Development Company — a company owned by the government — and private companies.

The bureau has also re-summoned prime minister’s secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad for Friday in this scam.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2018