While accepting application in a matter relating to Rs14 billion Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme scam against incumbent Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday Accountability Court Lahore adjourned hearing till December 10.
There are reports that Shahbaz Sharif has been accused of corruption in the case. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has alleged that Sharif, as chief minister of Punjab, transferred the housing project from Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) to Lahore Development Authority (LDA), ordered for the project to be transferred back from LDA to PLDC, illegally ordered for the project to be transferred to Paragon Housing Society and then kept it in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, interfered in board affairs and took measures in violation of the law, and illegally cancelled the contract of Lateef and Sons contractors in 2013.
Two witnesses of the NAB agency in the case did not turn up during the hearing. A NAB prosecutor requested the court to adjourn the hearing, saying the witnesses were indisposed. Accepting his request, the court adjourned the proceedings until December 10. Ahad Cheema, former director general of the LDA, appeared before the court to record his presence.
A third suspect, Fawad Hasan Fawad, has been accused of pressuring PLDC chief executive officer (CEO) Tahir Khursheed and Project Director Ali Moazzam to cancel the Ashiana contract with Lateef and Sons and award it to Lahore Casa Developers — apparently a proxy group of Paragon City (Pvt.) Limited.
As a result, the government had to pay Rs5.9 million in compensation to Lateef and Sons in 2013. In addition, the cost of the project had also escalated by billions of rupees due to the delay.
