LAHORE: The Interior Ministry blacklisted on Tuesday former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general Ahad Cheema from obtaining a passport due to the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) investigation against him. The anti-corruption watchdog is investigating allegations that Cheema, by misuse of authority and with criminal intent, awarded a contract of the Ashiana-e-Iqbal housing project of approximately Rs14 billion to Lahore Casa Developers — a joint-venture which was ineligible for the contract. Cheema was arrested on February 21 and is presently in NAB’s custody. A notification of the Interior Ministry stated that Cheema has been blacklisted due to the probe against him. Moreover, seven other citizens have also been put on the blacklist by the ministry. Earlier in the day, an accountability court in Lahore heard the Ashiana housing scheme case against Cheema. Cheema, among others, appeared before the court after which the prosecution informed that important data had been recovered from Cheema’s laptop and mobile phones. The NAB prosecutor added that further investigation was required due to the newfound data. On March 17, the Punjab government suspended Cheema from service for three months. According to a notification issued by the Punjab government, Cheema’s suspension will start from the day he was arrested by the NAB and will last for three months. Cheema, a grade-19 employee, was serving as the chief executive of Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Limited when he was arrested. The sources in Punjab Civil Secretariat said that notification of Cheema’s arrest was issued after approval from the federal government. Cheema was arrested after NAB detected illegalities and corruption worth billions in a deal between Paragon Housing Society and Punjab Land Development Company to construct the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Society, a low-cost project of the Punjab government. Published in Daily Times, March 21th 2018.