Ahad case adjourned until 4th

An accountability court on Monday adjourned the hearing of assets beyond means case against former DG LDA Ahad Khan Cheema after recording statements of two prosecution witnesses.

The court adjourned the case until 4th June. Ahad Khan Cheema was produced before the court from jail. As per NAB, Ahad Cheema made property worth billions of rupees in the name of his family members. It said the suspect and his family members owned over 300 kanals of agriculture land in Hafizabad, over 190 kanals in Lahore, a flat in Hill View, Islamabad, two plots in FIA Employees Cooperative Housing Society, Islamabad; two flats and plots in Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation, Islamabad, a 10-marla plot in Faisal Town, Islamabad, two five-marla plots in Faisal Residencia Islamabad and a three-kanal plot on Bedian Road, Lahore.

Moreover, the NAB had also filed a reference against Cheema and five others over their alleged role in Ashiana Housing Scheme scam. The five others were Bismillah Engineering Company owner Shahid Shafiq, LDA chief engineer Israr Saeed, Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) chief engineer Arif Majeed, former PLDC chief executive officer Imtiaz Haider and PLDC official Bilal Kidwai.

In the Ashiana reference, Cheema was accused of causing a loss of Rs660 million to the national exchequer. The project cost ballooned to Rs3.4bn while 61,000 people who had applied for plots in the project suffered, NAB alleged.