News Desk |
NAB authorities have obtained a ten day physical remand for Shahbaz Sharif, ex-Chief Minister Punjab. He was arrested yesterday and taken into NAB custody. Apparently top civil servants, Fawad Hassan Fawad and Ahad Cheema have admitted that their actions in different housing schemes were under direct orders by the ex-Chief Minister. However NAB sources that spoke with GVS insist that Fawad Hassan Fawad is not becoming a state approver against Shahbaz Sharif and the media reports on TV channels to that extent are not accurate.
Earlier today, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) presented Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif before an accountability court to seek his physical remand in the Rs14 billion Ashiyana-i-Iqbal housing project scam.
The PML-N leader was transported to the court in an armored vehicle amid tight security. As Shahbaz reached the court, dozens of charged PML-N workers besieged his vehicle with some getting on it and chanting slogans in favor of their leader.
Hamza Shahbaz, Marriyam Aurangzeb, and Uzma Bukhari are prominent among the party leaders who have gathered at the court.
They tried to obstruct the police from presenting Shehbaz before the court. The police personnel forced them to disembark from the vehicle and escorted the PML-N leader into the accountability judge’s chamber where the hearing of the case is underway.
A scuffle between PML-N workers and police personnel were also witnessed outside the court. Special security measures are in place with heavy contingents of police personnel deployed inside and around the accountability court owing to protest by PML-N leaders and supporters.
Read more: Shahbaz’s Arrest: Who gains & Who loses?
Hamza Shahbaz, Marriyam Aurangzeb, and Uzma Bukhari are prominent among the party leaders who have gathered at the court.
The Bureau, a day earlier, arrested the PML-N president, who is the Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, inside its Lahore office where he was summoned to record his statement in connection with the Punjab Saaf Pani Company case.
The Bureau later issued a statement, declaring that former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif has been arrested in the scam.
Shahbaz reached the NAB office at 2:50 pm. A combined investigation team of the country’s top anti-graft watchdog quizzed him for an hour over his alleged role in awarding the contract to his “favorite firm” in violation of laws in the Ashiyana-i-Iqbal housing project.
The Bureau later issued a statement, declaring that former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif has been arrested in the scam.
Read more: Fall of the house of Sharif: NAB arrests Shahbaz
Shahbaz’s blue-eyed officers, Lahore Development Authority former director general Ahad Cheema and Fawad Hassan Fawad, are already in NAB custody in the Ashiana Housing case.