LAHORE: An accountability court on Saturday extended interim pre-arrest bail of Kamran Kayani, a brother of former army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and Nadeem Zia, one of the owners of Paragon City, in a corruption reference of Punjab Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme.

In this reference, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been granted a permanent exemption from personal appearance in the proceedings. A pleader, however, attended the proceedings on behalf of the prime minister. Former director general of Lahore Development Authority Ahad Khan Cheema, who is also a suspect, appeared before the court.

Earlier, the counsel for the prime minister and other suspects requested the court to conclude the trial proceedings expeditiously. They said the majority of the prosecution witnesses had been cross-examined.

They said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should file a separate reference against suspects Kayani and Zia who recently joined the investigation.

On the other hand, the counsel for the two suspects asked the court to resume the trial proceedings afresh.

Presiding Judge Sajid Ali Awan adjourned further hearing till Oct 29 and also extended the bail of the two suspects.

The NAB alleged that Shehbaz and other suspects caused a huge loss to the national exchequer by awarding the contract of the housing scheme to a company without bidding.

It arrested Cheema on Feb 21, 2018, on charges of misusing his authority with criminal intent and awarding Rs14 billion contracts of Ashiana-i-Iqbal scheme. It alleged that Cheema received illegal gratification in the form of 32 kanals of land from the owners of Paragon City Developers in reward for the contract of the housing scheme awarded to its proxy firm namely Bismillah Engineering.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2022