LAHORE: An accountability court on Saturday granted 14-day physical remand of a former chief engineer of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a case of alleged corruption in LOS drain shuttering and road widening project from Ferozepur Road to Multan Road.

The NAB investigating officer told the court that the chief engineer, Israr Saeed, changed the initially approved plan of the project worth Rs630 million with mala fide intention which not only delayed the project but also increased its cost manifold.

He said the suspect also caused a loss to the public money by making payments to some private contractors he allegedly wanted to oblige despite objections raised by the project’s consultant.

The IO said custody of the suspect was required for further investigation into the case.

Presiding Judge Akmal Khan allowed the NAB the physical remand of the suspect with a direction to produce him again on Sept 19.

BAIL: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday granted interim pre-arrest bail to PML-N MPA Mirza Javed in a case of attacking a police team outside the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) offices when Maryam Nawaz, the party’s vice president, came to appear in an inquiry about land allotment.

The court restrained the Chuhng police from arresting the petitioner till Sept 11 and summoned record of the case.

The court had on Friday also granted pre-arrest bail to retired Capt Muhammad Safdar, son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in the same case.

Initially, the police had registered the FIR under relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, while it later added Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 to it.

Several PML-N leaders, including Ms Nawaz, her husband Mr Safdar, MNAs Rana Sanaullah Khan, Javed Latif, and over 300 workers were booked in the FIR.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2020