Ashiana Scam: Court Extends Shehbaz Sharif's Remand

An accountability court on Tuesday extended physical remand of opposition leader in the National Assembly Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif for another 14 days in Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing scam

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Oct, 2018 ) :An accountability court on Tuesday extended physical remand of opposition leader in the National Assembly Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif for another 14 days in Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing scam.

Earlier, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials produced Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif before Accountability Court Judge Syed Najamul Hassan on expiry of ten-day remand.

The NAB prosecutor submitted that investigations were ongoing from the PML-N leader,and further remand was required for the purpose. He submitted that Shehbaz had expressed ignorance to the questions asked by the investigators.

However,Shehbaz's counsel opposed the plea saying that NAB failed to prove anything against his client during the past ten days.He pleaded with the court to send the accused to jail on judicial remand. Shehbaz Sharif denied his involvement in the scam on the occasion.

The court,after hearing arguments,reserved its decision on remand request for some time but later extended the remand for another 14 days.

The court directed NAB officials to produce Shehbaz again on expiry of the remand term on Oct 30.

Strict security arrangements were made inside and outside the court premises on the occasion. Hamza Shehbaz was also present in the court.

It is pertinent to mention here that NAB had arrested Shehbaz Sharif on Oct 5 after he appeared before NAB combined investigation team in the Saaf Pani corruption case at the accountability watchdog's Lahore office.

Shehbaz was allegedly involved in corruption of Rs 14 billion Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing and Rs 4 billion Punjab Saaf Pani Company scams.

He had previously appeared before NAB on a couple of occasions in both the cases and recorded his statement.

Senior bureaucrat Fawad Hassan Fawad and Lahore Development Authority (LDA) former director general Ahad Cheema and others had been already arrested in connection with the housing scam.

NAB launched an investigation into the scam in November last after receiving a number of complaints in this regard.