Shehbaz's lawyers submit two surety bonds in accountability court

Lawyers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif have submitted two bail bonds worth Rs1 crore each in accountability court Friday.

According to sources, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court said that it has not received Lahore High Court (LHC) decision regarding bail of ex-CM Punjab in Ashiana Housing and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases.

Shehbaz Sharif is likely to leave for Lahore. On February 15, LHC had ordered to release Shehbaz Sharif after approving his bail plea.

The court said in its remarks that the NAB had failed to prove the allegations leveled against the PMLN president. Shehbaz Sharif never remained the chief executive of Ramzan Sugar Mills, LHC remarked.

Shehbaz Sharif said the truth prevailed once again and thanked God. We are appearing before courts and will continue to do so, he vowed. He once again claimed to leave politics if corruption is proved against him.

The PMLN president added that he had already said the cases are based on lies, and demanded that accountability of all should be held.

NAB had arrested Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in the Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme scam on October 5. The former chief minister was charged with awarding illegal contracts to his favorite firm.

He was apprehended during his appearance before NAB in Saaf Pani Company scam. Sources told that three files were tabled before him. The bureau quizzed Sharif regarding a tender awarded to a private consultancy company for a survey of the Saaf Pani company. The PML-N president had failed to satisfy the probing team of the bureau during the investigation and was ultimately arrested. The anti-graft watchdog had claimed that the company did not conduct any kind of survey but nevertheless was provided a lucrative sum of Rs1.5b.

Ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif's principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad became an approver in the case. Fawad Hassan Fawad, in his statement before NAB, had claimed that he had awarded a contract to a "favourite firm" in the Rs14 billion Ashiana Housing project at the behest of Shahbaz Sharif.

The anti-graft agency said that the contract for the housing scheme was won by a construction company titled Chaudhry Latif and Sons but Sharif cancelled it and later on awarded the contract to Lahore Casa Developers - a proxy group of Paragon City (Pvt) Limited, which is said to be owned by ex-Railways Minister Saad Rafique".