LAHORE – Former LDA DG Ahad Cheema, an accused in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal scamis in trouble as NAB has filed yet another reference against him in illegalassets case.
The decision was made after multiple assets owned by Cheema were unearthedduring the probe. The NAB chairman also directed the prosecution team toapproach the court to contest pre-arrest bail secured by the former CEO ofLahore Parking Company, Hafiz Nauman.
He told the officials that the NAB had proved that it had no politicalagenda and directed them to carry out investigation without taking anypressure. Earlier on June 30, the Bureau had filed a reference againstCheema, accusing him of misusing his authority and awarding illegalcontracts, which caused a loss of Rs 400 billion to the national exchequer.
As per details, the anti-graft body had launched an investigation againstthe management of the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC), owners ofLahore Casa Developers and the LDA officials after the government cancelledthe award of the Ashiana-e-Iqbal housing scheme to the successful bidderM/s Chaudhry Latif and Sons.
Later in February, the NAB had arrested Cheema over charges ofembezzlement, misuse of his authority and illegal award of Ashiana-e-lqbalproject contract worth Rs 14 billion to Lahore CASA Developers which wasineligible.
A NAB inquiry revealed that Bismillah Engineering Services Co was a proxyfirm working on behalf of the Paragon City (Pvt) Ltd. Cheema allegedlyreceived illegal gratification in the form of 32-kanal land worth Rs3 0.09million from the owners of Paragon City (Pvt) Ltd.
A private transaction revealed that a piece of land was transferred in thename of Cheema and his family members and payments were made by Paragon.Not only Cheema but his family members too took illegal benefits throughtheir involvement in a public sector scheme.
During his tenure as the LDA chief, the bank accounts of the Cheema familygrew considerably. During the course of investigation, NAB recovered Rs14.5million in cash stashed by Cheema in a car showroom on Jail Road, Lahore.During the raid, the Bureau also seized a Land Cruiser worth Rs 11 millionowned by Cheema.