LAHORE: An accountability court on Wednesday recorded statements of three prosecution witnesses in Punjab Ashiana Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing reference against Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and directed the NAB to produce further witnesses on March 24.

Earlier the defence counsel completed cross-examination of the witnesses, Saeed Akhtar, Ali Arsalan and Hanif Akhtar all officials of private banks.

The jail officials presented Shehbaz and former head of Lahore Development Authority Ahad Khan Cheema before the court. Fawad Hassan Fawad, former principal secretary to prime minister, had been granted exemption from personal appearance in the trial proceedings.

Shehbaz after the proceedings had a telephonic conversation with his elder brother former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and son Suleman Shehbaz, both living in London.

The legal team also discussed with Shahbaz Sharif the final draft of his bail petition in money laundering reference to be filed in the Lahore High Court.

The NAB alleged that Punjab Land Development Company signed a contract in 2015 but failed to complete the low cost housing project despite the lapse of three years. It said Cheema being head of the LDA awarded Rs 14 billion contract in violation of rules to a joint venture led by Lahore Casa Company.

The bureau also alleged that Bismillah Engineering of Shahid Shafiq was a proxy firm working on behalf of Paragon City Developers (Pvt) Ltd. It accused Cheema of receiving illegal gratification in the form of 32 kanals of land from the owners of Paragon developers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021