ISLAMABAD - Secretary to Prime Minister Fawad Hassan Fawad has landed in hot water after the arrest of former LDA DG Ahad Cheema for alleged corruption in the Ashiana Housing scam.
The housing scheme was an initiative of the Punjab government to provide residential facilities to the people with low income. The government had allocated Rs2 billion and acquired 672 kanals of land near Darbar Baba Noor Shah for this purpose. The investigation into the scam may lead to the arrest of some other government officials, including Fawad Hassan Fawad, who has been summoned again by the NAB next week to explain his position. The NAB headquarters has also speed up the complaint verification against Fawad over corruption allegations.
The NAB on last Wednesday arrested former LDA Director General Ahad Cheema in a corruption case after he failed to appear before the Combined Investigation Team (CIT) of the Bureau over ignoring several notices. Fawad Hassan Fawad has appeared before the NAB team in the same case last week. Sources told The Nation that NAB Rawalpindi Bureau had also received a complaint against Fawad in case of assets beyond known sources of income seven months ago.
They said the former DG Rawalpindi Bureau Nasir Iqbal who is a close relative of secretary to PM held the complaint for seven months while even NAB sets two-month time frame for the complaint verification process. The complainant alleged that Fawad and his brother have a partnership in a commercial plaza worth Rs12 billion in Rawalpindi.
They claimed that the NAB Rawalpindi has forwarded the Complaint against Fawad to NAB headquarters for further course of action on it.
A senior bureaucrat told The Nation that arrest of Ahad Cheema raises many eyebrows and senior bureaucrats of Pakistan Administrative Service group has decided to launch a campaign in favour of their group mate and a meeting was held in GoR Lahore in this regard. He said that the Fawad Hassan Fawad also participated in a meeting through conference call.
Earlier, the Bureau had warned Cheema that action could be taken against him under NAB ordinance if he fails to appear before the CIT.
The NAB spokesperson said in a statement that the investigation team arrested Cheema as per law and had shown his arrest warrants before shifting him to NAB. He rejected the criticism and said Cheema is allegedly involved in million of rupees corruption and anti-graft body has the right to investigate him as per the law.
Staff Reporter from Lahore adds: An accountability court Thursday granted 11-day physical remand of Ahad Khan Cheema to NAB for investigation into the charges of corruption and award of illegal contract of Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme.
Ahad Cheema was produced handcuffed before the NAB court in an armoured vehicle amid tight security. Reporters, cameramen and photographers were stopped from entering the judicial complex and covering the court proceedings on the pretext of security.
A large number of bureaucrats were also there to express solidarity with Cheema facing corruption charges. Hundreds of litigants were also present there at that time.
Cheema was taken into custody after an informer tipped off about his presence at his Gulberg office Wednesday. He ignored the summons issued to him twice by the NAB authorities for interrogation into allegations of misuse of power, corruption and award of illegal contract of Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme to a company.
During an in-camera proceeding, the NAB authorities submitted an application that Cheema had awarded illegal contract of Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme, a project of around Rs 14 billion, to Lahore Casa Developers in violation of the rules.
Reportedly, a major shareholder of the joint venture titled Lahore Casa Developers was M/S Bismillah Engineering Services which was a proxy firm working on behalf of M/S Paragon City (Pvt) Limited. Ahad Cheema allegedly received illegal gratification in the shape of over 32 kanals of land valuing Rs 30.09 million from the owners of Paragon City (Pvt) Limited.
The NAB official also said Cheema, being LDA DG, misused his powers and caused the loss of Rs 14 billion to the government exchequer. The accused was given ample time to explain his position, but he failed to satisfy the investigators, the IO said. He contented before the court that 14-day physical remand of the accused was required for completion of investigation of the scam, arrest of his co-accused and recovery of the looted money.
Accountability court Judge Muhammad Azam allowed 11-day physical remand of the accused to NAB and directed the investigators to come up with complete investigation report on the next hearing.
In another development in the similar matter, the LHC issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau director general for March 1 on a petition moved by Ahad Khan Cheema.
Through his counsel Azam Nazir Tarar, Ahad Cheema claimed the NAB initiated an inquiry into Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing project over alleged corruption. The project was assigned by Punjab Development Company through an agreement on January 20, 2015, to Lahore Development Authority when he was the director general of the authority, he said.
Cheema said he was summoned by the NAB for an inquiry into the matter. He claimed in the application that he had furnished information about his property in the assets declaration to the NAB, but he was taken into custody and a rough statement of allegations given to him.
Ahad Cheema said he had been made a scapegoat in Ashiana Housing Scheme case and the NAB authorities had taken him into custody to satisfy their ego as he had dared the respondents for an inquiry into the allegations after the second notice to him. He claimed the contract awarded to Casa Developers was transparent. He said the NAB did not fulfill legal requirements while his act offended them. He said he relinquished the charge of director general, Lahore Development Authority, on April 28, 2016, and record of the project was not in his possession. The officer denied receiving any gratification.
After hearing initial arguments of the petitioner’s counsel, Justice Ali Baqar Najfi issued notices to the NAB with the direction to submit reply and adjourned further proceedings until March 1.