Lahore court acquits ex-principal secretary to PM Fawad Hassan Fawad in assets case

LAHORE – An accountability court in the Punjab capital on Thursday acquitted former principal secretary to the ex-prime ministers – Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi – in the asset beyond means case citing lack of evidence.

The court has also cleared Fawad’s wife Rubab Hassan, brother Waqar Hassan and close relative Dr Anjum Hassan.  

The NAB had filed two corruption reference against former principal secretary. The second reference alleged that Fawad collected Rs1.09 billion worth of illegal assets, including a five kanal commercial plot in Rawalpindi's Saddar area valued at around Rs50 million.

The former top bureaucrat had also been alleged to have shares in a 15-storey commercial plaza located in the same area valued at around Rs3.085bn.

The corruption watchdog stated that the inquiry against Fawad was converted into an investigation on Oct 12, 2018 and on March 15, 2019, NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal had given his approval for the new reference.

The Grade-22 officer of the prestigious Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) was arrested in July 2018 and he got bail from the Lahore High Court (LHC) in 2020.

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