Ashiana housing scam: Accountability court extends remand of Ahad Cheema, Shahid Shafiq

F.P. Report

LAHORE: The accountability court hearing Ashiana housing scam has extended the remand of former director general Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Ahad Cheema and Bismillah Engineering Company CEO Shahid Shafiq and handed over them to National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The arrested were accused in Ashiana-e-Iqbal housing scheme scam and on Monday they were sent on a 15-day remand after NAB officials requested the accountability court to extend their physical remand as investigators have to probe the case further.

NAB had arrested Ahad Cheema and Shafiq after National Accountability Bureau (NAB) found their illegalities and corruption worth billions in a deal between Paragon Housing Society and Punjab Land Development Company to construct the Ashiana housing scheme.

The former director general of LDA Ahad Cheema was arrested on February 21, after which the Punjab bureaucracy went up in arms in solidarity with their colleague.

A NAB spokesperson had earlier said that Cheema misused his authority with criminal intent to award a contract to Bismillah Engineering, which is a C-4 company part of the joint venture Lahore Casa Developers that was ineligible for the contract.

Cheema had also obtained a 32-kanal piece of land in Lahore Cantonment, registered in the name of his cousin and siblings Ahmed Cheema and Sadia Mansoor, said the NAB spokesperson.