Lahore Feb 25 (TNS): A local court on Sunday handed over Bismillah Engineering CEO Shahid Shafiq to the National Accountability Bureau on a one-day physical remanded after the anti-graft body produced him before the court in connection with the Ashiyana Housing Scheme corruption case.
Shafiq is expected to spill the beans during the investigation and more arrests could not be ruled out as the anti-graft body has consolidated its position by calling in Punjab Rangers to secure its Lahore headquarters building where former director-general of the Lahore Development Authority Ahad Cheema is being kept and investigated. The NAB said that the Rnagers had been called to provide security to Cheema.
Earlier, the NAB had arrested Cheema on allegations of the misuse of the authority and favouring the Lahore Casa Developers/ Bismillah Engineering — a joint venture— in awarding a contract of the housing scheme. According to the NAB, the illegal contract to a fourth-rated company caused a loss of over R440 million to the national exchequer.
The arrest of Ahad attracted a strong protest from the Punjab government and the provincial bureaucracy, which said that the arrest of the former LDA chief was unwarranted, baseless and illegal, an allegation the anti-graft body said unfounded. The bureaucrats held a lengthy session on Saturday in Lahore to devise a strategy after the arrest of Ahad, however, the huddle could not thrash out a joint strategy after PMS and police officers refused to be part of a possible protest, the DMG-led bureaucrats wanted to launch against the NAB. According to sources, the PMS and police officers flatly refused to be part of any protest.
Cheema is accused of awarding the Rs14 billion housing projects to the Casa Developers/ Bismillah Engineering in violation of the PPRA rules and through the misuse of authority despite the fact that the company did not qualify to get the scheme as being a C-4 company, only eligible to get contracts up to Rs150.
Cheema, whose arrest has ruffled feathers in the Punjab bureaucracy, was also accused of getting illegal gratification in the shape of 32-kanal worth Rs30 million from owners of Paragon City (Pvt) Ltd. The former LDA director general was arrested on February 21.
A NAB spokesperson said 61,000 complainants had paid Rs600 million in the processing fee to the Ashiyan House Scheme which could be completed due to undue delays in its construction.
