LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday met his younger brother and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif at the National Accountability Bureau’s Lahore office where he is in custody in connection with the Ashiyana-i-Iqbal housing project case.

Nawaz, accompanied by his daughter Maryam Nawaz, Shahbaz’s wife Nusrat and son Hamza, held a two-hour meeting with the leader of opposition in the National Assembly.

On Oct 5, NAB arrested Shahbaz in the case in which he is accused of cancelling the contract of the successful bidder, M/S Chaudhry Latif & Sons, instead allegedly obliging M/S Lahore Casa Develo­pers (JV) — a proxy group of M/S Paragon City (Pvt) Limited — and causing losses of millions to the exchequer.

NAB has also arrested Shahbaz in the Ramazan Sugar Mills case. The former chief minister has been accused of ordering construction of a bridge to benefit the sugar mills and spending public money on the project in Chiniot.

According to NAB, Shahbaz allegedly approved an amount of Rs200 million for the construction of the bridge.

NAB has already written to the interior ministry for placing the names of Hamza Shahbaz and his younger brother Salman Shahbaz on the Exit Control List (ECL). They are facing a NAB inquiry in the Ramazan Sugar Mills case.

Hamza is also facing an inquiry in the Saaf Pani Company case for presiding over some meetings of its board of directors and allegedly issuing orders regarding award of contracts.

Salman is in London and has skipped the last three NAB hearings.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2018