Shahbaz Sharif bail plea: LHC rejects NAB request
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LAHORE - A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench Tuesday adjourned hearing of bail petitions, filed by Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases, till February 6. The bench comprising Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan and Justice Mirza Viqas Rauf heard the post-arrest bail petitions filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-N chief. As proceedings commenced, National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) Special Prosecutor Faisal Bukhari requested the bench to adjourn the matter and allow time for filing para-wise comments in the cases. However, the bench declined the adjournment request and directed Shehbaz Sharif's counsel, Amjad Parvaiz, to advance his arguments. The counsel submitted that his client had been arrested on the charges of misuse of authority and causing a loss to the exchequer in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing scam. In response to a court query, the counsel submitted that an inquiry was launched in the scam on January 10, 2018 and subsequently, his client appeared before the NAB investigation team whenever he was summoned. Although no role was ascribed to the applicant in the interim report and interim challan, he was arrested on October 5 while he was present at NAB Lahore office in connection with the Saaf Pani Company scam, he added. Questioning the arrest of the applicant, Amjad further submitted that there was no statement under Section 161 of the CrPC against the applicant, except for a verbal statement of Amir Latif, one of the owners of the Latif and Sons, whose Ashiana contract was canceled in 2013. At this stage, the bench asked the counsel that why the contract of M/s Latif and Sons was cancelled. It was alleged that the contract was cancelled to benefit Paragon Developers, it added. To which, the counsel responded that the contract of M/s Latif & Sons was canceled due to serious lapses and the matter was referred to the anti-corruption establishment. To another court query, he stated that the contract was cancelled after the bank concerned stated that it did not issue the call deposit receipt (CDR) of the contract. Amjad Parvaiz submitted that the contract was not awarded to Paragon but Casa Developers in March 2015, and it was also canceled on April 10, 2017 due to non-implementation of the contract by the contractor. At this, the bench mentioned that CASA Developers was a consortium of three companies including Bismillah Engineering, which was owned by the brother of Paragon owner. To which, Amjad stated that there was no bar on the brother of Paragon owner to do business. However, the bench observed that the Bureau had alleged that the applicant misused his authority and entrusted the contract to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) whereas only the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) board had powers for the purpose. Upon this, Amjad Parviaz replied that the matter was entrusted to the LDA by the PLDC board with the permission to explore public-private partnership mode for development of the project. He submitted that even the contract of CASA Developers was cancelled by the PLDC board and his client did not play any role in that regard. Denying all the charges, the counsel contended that the applicant neither misused his authority nor gained any personal benefits in the process. He submitted that no loss was caused to the national exchequer as no government land or money was given to the contractor. He pleaded with the court to grant benefit of bail to the applicant. At this, the bench adjourned the hearing till February 6 with a direction to the NAB prosecutor for filing para-wise comments by the next date of hearing. The bench also adjourned the hearing of bail petition, filed by senior bureaucrat Fawad Hassan Fawad in connection with the Ashiana-e-Iqbal scam till Feb 6. It is pertinent to mention here that NAB had filed a supplementary reference against PML-N President and Chairman Public Accounts Committee Shehbaz Sharif and 12 others in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing case on December 22, 2018. The supplementary reference consists of more than 1,000 pages and spread over three volumes. NAB had accused Shehbaz Sharif of misusing his authority which resulted in failure of the project, depriving 61,000 applicants of the housing units. NAB alleged that Shehbaz Sharif, in connivance with former DG LDA Ahad Cheema, awarded the contract to a proxy. NAB had also alleged that Shehbaz Sharif misused his authority being chief minister and got constructed a bridge in Chiniot which facilitated Ramzan Sugar Mills, owned by the Shehbaz family. NAB claimed that Rs 200 million was paid from the national kitty and Shehbaz Sharif illegally ordered for the construction of the bridge.
