Daily Times

LAHORE: Former Director General (DG) Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Ahad Cheema and chief executive of a private construction company Shahid Shafiq, who are accused of involvement in Ashiana housing scam, have been sent to jail on judicial remand till July 4.

While hearing the Asiana housing scandal, Justice Syed Najam-ul-Hassan directed the police to take Ahad Cheema in judicial remand, who had earlier been on physical remand for the past 90 days. Whereas owner of Bismillah construction company, Shahid Shafiq has also been sent to jail on judicial remand, as  before he had been on physical remand for the past 87 days.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor had remarked that Punjab Land Development Company had signed an agreement on January 20, 2015, while 16000 people had submitted 61 crore rupees for Ashiana Iqbal.

However, after three years of the agreement, the project did not complete, he told the court.

NAB prosecutor informed the court that Ahad Cheema had assigned a project of 14 billion to the CASA company, which is a joint venture of Bismillah Engineering Services, Sparco, and China group.

It is illegal to give a project of more than 15 crore to any company, the prosecutor informed the court. Due to this, the government has suffered a loss of more than 64 crore and 50 lakh, it added.

On February 21, the NAB arrested Cheema from his Gulberg Office on MM Alam Road on an informer’s report about his presence there.

While Shafique was arrested during Punjab Land Development company’s inquiry.