Housing fraud hearing postponed until the 18th
Tuesday in Lahore, a court of accountability postponed until November 18 the hearing of the Ashiana Housing fraud case involving former premier Shehbaz Sharif and other defendants.
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Initially, the court had planned to render its decision in the case on Tuesday. However, in light of the ambiguity caused by the Supreme Court’s order dated October 31, it rescheduled that date.
Additionally, the statement stated that the ruling would be disclosed subsequent to the highest court’s analysis of the order.
The Supreme Court, on October 31, permitted accountability tribunals to proceed with corruption case proceedings; however, it halted them from issuing final orders.
The attorneys informed Judge Malik Ali Zulqarnain that cases in which the defendants were acquitted subsequent to the amendments to the accountability law were impacted by the Supreme Court’s order.
The magistrate, on the other hand, believed that clarification should be sought in some forum.
The attorneys informed the judge that the Supreme Court order unequivocally declared that it would not impact merit petitions. However, the judge responded that not only himself, but also his counterparts in other accountability courts were perplexed by the decision.
The judge ruled that infractions of the SC’s order were not permissible.
Two prominent defendants, Nadeem Zia and Kamran Kayani, were found not guilty by the court last month in the housing scheme fraud reference initiated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Permanent immunity has been granted to Shehbaz from appearing in court.
Additional individuals under investigation are Asrar Saeed, Bilal Qadwai, Imtiaz Haider, Arif Butt, and current caretaker Privatisation Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad. Ahad Cheema, the assistant to the incumbent interim prime minister, and Bismillah Construction Company CEO Shahid Shafiq are also suspected in the case.
Ten suspects have been indicted by the court in connection with the Ashiana Housing fraud case.
According to the NAB reference, Rs610 million was allegedly invested by 16,000 low-income citizens in the housing scheme.
On January 20, 2015, the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) engaged into a contractual agreement that led to the government incurring losses exceeding Rs645 million due to the firms’ lack of proficiency.
