Lahore (Staff Report): An accountability court on Saturday sent former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif on a 10-day physical remand in the Ahsiana Iqbal Housing scam.
Earlier, The PML-N president was brought by NAB officials to the accountability court amid heavy security as workers and leaders were present outside the court premises. Contingents of police and Punjab Rangers were deployed outside and inside the court.
The former Punjab chief minister was represented by Azam Nazeer Tarar and Amjad Pervez.
As Judge Najmul Hasan arrived in the courtroom, several PML-N workers were present owing to which he summoned Shehbaz, his lawyers and the NAB prosecutor in his chambers. The entry of unrelated persons and media coverage had been barred inside the accountability court.
The NAB prosecutor maintained the stance before the court that the former CM Punjab cancelled the contract awarded to M/s Ch A Latif & Sons for infrastructure development of Ashiana Iqbal Housing Project and awarded it to CASA Developers.
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) pleaded to the court that the former CM caused a huge loss to the national exchequer and requested to send him on a 15-day physical remand.
However, Shehbaz denied the allegations as "false and baseless" and his counsels opposed the NAB prosecutor's request to send him on a physical remand.
The PML-N leader requested that the hearing not be held in the chambers following which Judge resumed it in the open court.
The former Punjab CM told the court that the case against him "was made on political basis".
"I saved billions through intervention in a personal capacity," he said while rejecting NAB claims that he cause a huge loss to the national exchequer. "I saved Rs75 billion in Orange Line Train project."
"I sacrificed my sleep and health to work day and night in order to serve the nation," the former Punjab chief minister further said.
The leader of the opposition in NA asserted that he was not involved in corruption of even a single penny.
After hearing the arguments, the court reserved its judgment on NAB's plea for Shehbaz's 15-day physical remand. The court then granted NAB a 10-day physical remand of the leader of the opposition in NA.
On Friday, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif in Ashiana Housing scam.
Shehbaz was arrested after appearing for a routine hearing in the Saaf Pani case earlier today at the accountability body’s Lahore office.
Shahbaz’s blue-eyed officers, Lahore Development Authority former director general Ahad Cheema and Fawad Hasan Fawad, are already in NAB custody in the Ashiana Housing case.
