Ashiana housing case: Court reserves verdict on acquittal application of two co-accused

LAHORE: An accountability court on Tuesday reserved verdict on acquittal applications of two co-accused in Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing scheme case.

Accountability Court Judge Amjad Nazir Chaudhry conducted the case proceedings, wherein the jail authorities produced opposition leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, former Lahore Development Authority director general Ahad Cheema and other accused.

The court heard detailed arguments of the parties on acquittal application of Shahid Mehmood and Chaudhry Sadiq, during the proceedings, and reserved its verdict.

The court adjourned further hearing till March 17, besides directing the prosecution to produce more witnesses on the next date of hearing.

The court expressed annoyance over the presence of crowd in the courtroom, during the proceedings, and observed that the situation was still not better with respect to coronavirus. The court directed police to expel all private persons from the courtroom and stopped hearing for a while. Later, the court resumed hearing after reduction in number of people in the courtroom.

The court had indicted 10 accused including Shehbaz Sharif in the case, NAB, in the reference, alleged that Shehbaz Sharif, being the chief minister of Punjab, misused his authority by unlawfully assuming powers of Board of Directors of PLDC. It said he, in connivance with his co-accused, awarded a contract to an ineligible proxy firm that resulted in failure of Ashiana housing scheme, causing a loss to the public exchequer and deprived 61,000 applicants of houses.