Bail pleas dismissed in Ashiana case

LAHORE : The Lahore High Court on Monday dismissed bail petitions of six accused including close relative of former LDA DG Ahad Khan Cheema in the Ahsiana Housing Scheme scam.

The six accused include Ahad Cheema’s brother-in-law Mansoor Ahmad and cousin Ahmad Hassan, Paragon City Director Munir Zia, LDA officer Sajjad Bhutta, Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) CEO Imtiaz Haider and its consultant Bilal Qadwae.

Mansoor Ahmad, the brother in law of Ahad Khan Cheema, and Ahmad Hassan, his cousin, had been on the interim bail while Bismillah Engineering Director Munir Zia and LDA Officer Sajjad Bhutta approached the High Court for first time to secure pre-arrest bail. PLDC CEO Imtiaz Haider and its consultant Bilal Qudwae had moved the court for after-arrest bails.

A two-member bench of the LHC decided bail petitions moved by the accused in the Ashiana Scheme scam . NAB authorities had filed a reference against former LDA DG Ahad Khan Cheema and others in the case according to which Cheema caused Rs Rs 660 million loss to the national exchequer in the scheme while the cost of the project enhanced to Rs 3.399 billion. Over 61,000 persons who had applied for homes in the project suffered, it said.

The counsel of the accused told the court that the NAB made fake cases against his clients as they had nothing to do with the scam. He asked the court to accept their bails and order their release.

The NAB counsel, however, opposed their bail petitions arguing that Ahad Khan Cheema misused his authority as LDA DG and got huge land in gratification. He said Cheema transferred the land into the names of his close relatives including Mansoor Ahmad and Ahmad Hassan. He said Munir Zia and Sajjad Bhutta had also been involved in the corruption. A reference had been moved against Imtiaz Haider and Bilal Qudwai and they had been in the NAB’s custody, the counsel said. After hearing both sides, the bench turned down bail petitions of all six accused.

Ahad Khan Cheema had completed his 90-day physical remand and is still on judicial remand.

A NAB court would take up his case at the new Judicial Complex today.

Use of tiger in elections challenged: An exhibition of wild animal/tiger in the election campaign by candidates of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has been challenged before the Lahore High Court.

A citizen, Munir Ahmad, filed a writ petition through Advocate Azhar Siddique pleading that the displaying of the wild animal in the public meetings was in violation of the election code of conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The petitioner stated that the candidates openly flouted the code of conduct of the ECP by exhibiting wild cats/tigers during their election campaign. He said the candidates also violated rights of the wild animals by exposing them to vulnerable environment instead of keeping them in natural environment.

He asked the court to take action against the individuals involved in violating the ECP code and risking the lives of wild animals.