Shahbaz granted bail in Ashiana Housing, Ramzan Sugar Mills cases

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday granted PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif bail in Ashiana Iqbal Housing Scheme and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Malik Shehzad heard the bail petitions of the PML-N chief and Fawad Hassan Fawad.

Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif had approached the LHC last month, seeking bail in Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme scam.

He was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on October 5, 2018 when he appeared before the anti-graft body at Lahore office.

The NAB accused Shahbaz precisely of misusing his authority as chief minister of Punjab by unlawfully assuming the powers of the Board of Directors of Punjab Land Development Company Limited (PLDC). NAB alleged that Shahbaz, in connivance with his co-accused, awarded a contract to an ineligible proxy firm, which resulted in failure of the Ashiana housing scheme, causing loss to the public exchequer and depriving 61,000 applicants of their housing units.

It also charged ex-CM with issuing directions for entrusting the housing project to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and withdrawing it from the PLDC, and intervening in the company affairs in violation of the Companies Ordinance, Memorandum and Article of Association and Corporate Governance Rules 2013.

However, in his bail petition, filed through Advocate Amjad Pervez, Shahbaz Sharif denied all these charges being false and frivolous.