Daily Times

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday approved bail of former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s principal secretary Fawad Hasan Fawad in illegal assets case.

During the hearing, Fawad’s lawyer told the court that his client was arrested in 2018 but no indictment proceeding was carried out against him

The court remarked why National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has not apprehended the three benami suspects in connection with the case until now. The one having nothing on his name was taken into custody, Justice Tariq Abbasi stated.

Fawad’s bail was earlier rejected on the basis of investigation but now, a complete reference exposing everything is present in the court, the lawyer stated. Meanwhile, NAB prosecutor said that Fawad Hasan Fawad has used his relatives name to hide the properties.

The court asked about the arrest of those possessing all the assets over which, the anti-graft watchdog prosecutor stated that the company having all the assets has nothing in its bank account. Subsequently, the court ordered to release Fawad over surety bond worth Rs1 million.

Court extends Shahid Khaqan’s remand in LNG reference until Feb 4

Reacting to the bail of Fawad Hasan Fawad, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif thanked Almighty Allah and called the ex-PM’s principal secretary as an honest, competent and intelligent person. Such kind of patriotic officials are asset of a country, he added. The principal secretary of the former prime minister was arrested on July 5, 2018 in the Ashiyana-i-Iqbal scam. However, later investigations began into his assets beyond known sources of income on August 3, 2018. He was facing charges of accumulating assets worth Rs 1,089 million with no declared sources of income.

The NAB alleged that Fawad had an “illegal” commercial plot of five kanals worth Rs 500 million (approx) on Haider Road in Rawalpindi with NAB Lahore Regional Board converted the ongoing inquiry against accused Fawad Hassan Fawad into an investigations on October 12, 2018 whereby after completing the investigations, a reference was sent to NAB Headquarters for approval from Chairman NAB Justice Javed Iqbal and his Executive Board.

Meanwhile, an accountability court on Tuesday extended judicial remand of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract scam.

All accused, including Shahid Khaqan Abbasi appeared before the Islamabad accountability court today. The court has granted exemption to former finance minister Miftah Ismail from appearing in the hearing.

The judge summoned report about arrest warrant of absconding accused Shahid Islam from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), who had also skipped the previous court proceedings of the case. Charges could not be framed in the case due to absence of an accused, the judge said. The case proceedings will move ahead after report about arrest warrant of absconding accused will be submitted, the court said.