Court extends remand of Ahad Cheema, others

LAHORE: An accountability court Tuesday extended physical remand of former director general of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Ahad Cheema and Bismillah Engineering's proprietor Shahid Shafiq Faridi and four others for 14 days in Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme case.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) produced the accused before Judge Muhammad Azam on expiry of the remand term.

The NAB investigating officer submitted that investigation of the case was still under way and requested the court to extend the physical remand of accused for another 15 days.

The defence counsel opposed the request and prayed to send the suspects to jail on judicial remand.

The court allowed the NAB request and extended the physical remand for another 14 days.

Besides Ahad Cheema and Shahid Shafiq, Lahore Development Authority Chief Engineer Israr Saeed, former chief executive officer of Punjab Land Development Company Imtiaz Haider, Member Technical Land Financial Allocation Committee PLDC Arif Majeed Butt and consultant Bilal Qidwai included among the accused. They were arrested on March 10 over their alleged role in the scam.