An accountability court hearing the Ashiana-e-Iqbal corruption scandal case granted a seven-day physical remand of Shahid Shafiq, the CEO of Bismillah Engineering
Lahore: (Pakistan Point News - 26th Feb, 2018) : An accountability court hearing the Ashiana-e-Iqbal corruption scandal case granted a seven-day physical remand of Shahid Shafiq, the CEO of Bismillah Engineering. The company was one of the three companies that were part of a joint venture, Lahore Casa Developers, which is accused of being unlawfully awarded a contract for the Ashiana-e-Iqbal housing scheme project. Shafiq' Lawyer told the court that his client was tortured and presented pictures of the torture.
The NAB however denied the claim and said that Shafiq was allowed to meet his wife on Monday. Shafiq will be presented before the court, along with former director general of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Ahad Cheema, on March 5. The NAB had launched an investigation against the management, officers, and officials of the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC), management and owners of Lahore Casa Developers, officers and officials of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) after the government cancelled the award of the Ashiana-e-Iqbal housing scheme to the successful bidder M/S Chaudhry Latif and Sons.
Bismillah Engineering was only eligible to receive contracts up to 150 million rupees, the NAB spokesperson had stated, adding that Cheema caused a loss of 455 million rupees to the national exchequer. Meanwhile Work in Civil Secretariat Lahore resumed Monday after officers of the provincial bureaucracy, who had closed their offices to protest Ahad Cheema's arrest, returned to their daily routine. According to the disgruntled officers, they have returned on the assurance of the chief secretary but would continue to extend legal help to Cheema. The officers also said that they were not running away from investigation but would not tolerate disrespect of any of their colleagues. According to NAB, it allowed a meeting between Ahad Cheema and his wife on Monday. The NAB also released photograph of their meeting.
