LAHORE: An accountability court on Monday denied the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) further custody of former principal secretary to prime minister Fawad Hassan Fawad in Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme scam and sent him to jail on judicial remand.

The NAB produced Mr Fawad before the court and sought his further physical remand pleading that custody of the suspect was required to complete investigation.

However, counsel for Fawad opposed the bureau’s request and told the court that his client had already undergone 89-day physical remand. He said under the relevant law the NAB could not keep any suspect in physical remand beyond 90 days. Therefore, he argued that the NAB could not be allowed to have further custody of Fawad.

Syed Najamul Hassan, the presiding judge, turned down the NAB’s request and sent Fawad to jail on judicial remand till Oct 16.

The bureau accused Fawad of misusing authority being secretary implementation of former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif and violated procurement rules to award contract of the housing scheme to a company of his choice.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2018