Shahbaz declared innocent in Ashiana Housing scandal

Islamabad:not long ater the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cleared Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the Rs7 billion money laundering case, the anti-grat watchdog on Saturday also declared the premier “innocent” in the Ashiana Housing reference — which was filed against him in 2018.

According to a report submitted by NAB to the Lahore Accountability Court of Judge Sheikh Sajjad Ahmad, no evidence of corruption was found in the contract issued for the scheme.

The report said there was no loss caused to the national kity nor did Shahbaz get any financial benefit from the project. “It is proved beyond any doubt that the treasury didn’t suffer any loss,” the NAB said. “No evidence of misuse of powers was found against Shahbaz Sharif.”

The NAB report stated that no aspect of malice was proven against Shahbaz in this case. Furthermore, the report stated that Kamran Kayani, brother of former army chief General (retd) Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, also didn’t cause any damage to the treasury.

The report found that Fawad Hasan Fawad — who at the time was the implementation secretary to then-punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif — took no bribe to award the contract.

The report added that Shahbaz as the chief minister had sent the Ashiana case to the anti-corruption watchdog as per the law. “The accountability court should decide Shahbaz Sharif’s plea for acquital according to the law,” the report said.

Judge Sheikh Sajjad Ahmad then called lawyers from both sides for arguments and adjourned the hearing till May 27.

When it was launched in 2011, the Ashianae-iqbal Housing Scheme was touted as a lowcost housing scheme.

However, soon accusations of irregularity started to pop up as inexplicable delays in ballots and the allotment of completed units began to crop up.

Ater several years, in 2018, several highprofile politicians came under fire for alleged corruption and misuse of fire, leading to an inquiry by the anti-grat watchdog.

Amongst those accused was Sharif, who had allegedly misused his powers during his stint as Punjab chief minister in an inquiry pertaining to the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC).

It must be noted that on May 11, the anti-grat watchdog declared Prime Minister Shahbaz, his son Hamza Shahbaz and others “innocent” in Rs16 billion references against them for assets beyond means and money laundering filed against them.