LAHORE – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was among the accused who appeared before an accountability court on Monday in Ashiana Housing Scheme and the Ramazan Sugar Mills cases.
Reports in local media said Sharif’s aide on the establishment, Ahad Khan Cheema, who is also a co-accused, arrived in court.
The court granted permanent exemption to PM Shahbaz from personal appearance in the case of a multi-million dollar housing scam, after the premier cited national responsibilities.
Sharif, however, assured the court to appear when summoned, saying this is his duty as well as responsibility.
On the other hand, the prosecutor of the anti-graft watchdog opposed his exemption from personal appearance in the case, saying PM did not submit his medical certificate along with the application for exemption from personal appearance.
NAB officials, who arrested Shehbaz in 2018, claimed that the senior PML-N leader abused power while he was chief executive of the country’s most populous region Punjab, and accused him of awarding contacts for a housing scheme to his party members.
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Officials also accused Shehbaz of misusing his powers in an inquiry pertaining to the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC). Fawad Hassan Fawad was also a co-accused in the case who was Secretary Implementation to then CM Punjab.
