Ashiana scam: Court remands Fawad Hasan in NAB custody for 14 days

LAHORE: An accountability court Friday awarded 14-day physical remand of Fawad Hasan Fawad, former principal secretary to PM, to National Accountability Bureau as an accused in Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing project scam.

The NAB officials produced Fawad before the court under strict security arrangements and pleaded with the court to grant his 15-day physical remand. The NAB prosecution informed the court that Fawad was arrested by NAB over charges of misuse of authority, being the secretary implementation to former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and causing loss of billions to the national exchequer.

The prosecutor further stated that Fawad got suspended a contract for construction of Ashiana-e-Iqbal housing society and awarded it a favourite company, Casa Developers on higher rate, causing losses of Rs4 billion to national exchequer.

NAB authorities said the project was initially given to M/s Chaudhry Latif & Sons for a low price of Rs1.5 billion. They said being secretary of the then Punjab chief minister, he misused his authority and caused huge loss to the national exchequer. The government, they said, had to pay Rs6 million as fine to the successful bidder due to cancellation of the contract. The illegal actions taken by Fawad Hasan Fawad delayed the project and multiplied its cost, prosecutor added. However, Fawad standing in the court denied all allegations of corruption levelled against him and said he had no role in getting the contract suspended. His duty was to get the orders of the Punjab CM implemented and he did his duty, he said. Fawad said soon after assuming the charge of principal secretary, he never interfered in the affairs of the province. He said he served in Punjab till March 2013. About the Ashiana contract, he said the then chief minister had ordered an inquiry against the contract when discrepancies were found in it. The counsel for Fawad submitted an application regarding medical examination of his client by an orthopaedic surgeon and nephrologists.

The court allowed his request and granted 14-day physical remand of Fawad to NAB, with directives to the NAB officials to produce him on July 19.

Monitoring desk adds: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua informed the court that common citizens had filed applications regarding the Ashiana-e-Iqbal project corruption. He accused Fawad of keeping an inquiry committee report about the housing scheme case out of the reach of authorities. He said the officers, who had written the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme report, had also been summoned to appear before the court.

The court inquired whether a money trail of the case was ascertained, to which the NAB investigation officer responded that efforts for the same were under way. He further added that the victims had also been summoned for the probe. The court asked whether the termination contract was signed, to which Fawad said he had signed a document related to the contract. The accused informed the court that he was transferred on March 30, 2013, and since then had not been posted in Punjab.

“NAB has brought me here because of the statements made by criminals,” he said. Furthermore, Fawad said the Punjab Land Development Company was owned by the Punjab government. “The first order for investigation was issued by the chief minister,” he said. The defence lawyer questioned NAB’s petition for his client’s physical remand despite having all relevant records. NAB Prosecutor Janjua then said that an investigation into the allegations was under way.

The defence lawyer also filed an application for permission for Fawad to receive food from his family during his physical remand. Commenting on Fawad's arrest, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah alleged that NAB had been used in the past before election and it is now being used for the same purpose. Fawad has served as former PM Nawaz Sharif's principal secretary and is considered close to the former premier. He was removed from the post of principal secretary on June 1 this year and appointed director general of Civil Services Academy, Lahore.