Court summons Shahbaz on 26th

Our correspondent

LAHORE: An accountability court Thursday summoned PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif in person by January 26 in Ashiana housing scam. The court had granted Shahbaz exemption frompersonal appearance in this case. However, the court denied the relief with observation that if an accused can appear before the court in other cases he can also appear in this case as well. In this case the NAB had filed reference against Shahbaz Sharif and 12 others. Former principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad, Nadeem Zia, Kamran Kiyani, Munir Zia, Khalid Hussain, Shahid Chaudhry, Ahad Cheema and others are the accused nominated in the reference. Three accused including Kamran Kiyani, Nadeem Zia and Khalid Hussain had been declared proclaimed offenders after they failed to appear in the court. The NAB had accused Shahbaz Sharif of misusing his authority which allegedly resulted in failure of the project, depriving 61,000 applicants of housing units. The NAB alleged that Shahbaz Sharif, in connivance with former DG LDA Ahad Cheema, awarded the contract to a proxy.