SC accepts NAB?s plea against Shahbaz?s bail for hearing

[ahlam1399]

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has accepted the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeal for hearing against the bail granted to Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif and former principal secretary to the prime minister Fawad Hassan Fawad by the Lahore High Court in the Ashiana Housing Scheme case.A three-member bench, headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, heard the NAB appeal. During the course of the proceedings, NAB’s counsel Naeem Bukhari withdrew his adjournment application submitted on Wednesday on medical grounds.He said he appeared before the bench as “negative news” was spread on social media. He argued that the high court granted bail to the accused against the principles governing the grant of bail set by the Supreme Court.“There are no circumstances necessitating the grant of bail to Shahbaz Sharif,”he said.Upon this, Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that the Lahore High Court had not found sufficient grounds for the allegations levelled against Shahbaz and believed that all contracts seemed to have been granted by him on merit.Naeem Bukhari said the high court’s decision had been taken “without due consideration of the facts of the case” and had impacted the case adversely. “Former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif had been the architect of the Ashiana scandal as he conspired with former Lahore Development Authority director general Ahad Cheema to award the project contract in contradiction of the rules,” he alleged.He claimed the former chief minister cancelled the first successful bid for the contract and later intervened in the second bidding process. “The first contract was cancelled in bad faith and the successful bidder had to be paid Rs 6 million as penalty,” he added.Bukhari argued that the Paragon Company was then awarded the contract for 2,000 kanals of land for Rs 4 billion.” The project was turned into a public-private partnership by using government finances and it was all done to benefit the Paragon Company,” he added.The NAB counsel stated that more than 6,000 affected persons were still waiting for the project to be completed. He also said Fawad was also facing a case pertaining to the assets beyond known sources of income.He said: “If Ahad Cheema is in jail, how could Shahbaz Sharif and Fawad Hassan Fawad be allowed bail?” Later, the court accepted NAB’s appeal for hearing, issued notices to Shahbaz Sharif and Fawad Hassan Fawad, and adjourned the case till May 2.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/com/cwEr/~4/Rkpe2snKmOA

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