RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: An Accountability court on Thursday granted 11-day physical remand of former director general (DG) of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Ahad Cheema to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

During the course of hearing, the NAB official contended that Ahad Cheema didn't cooperate in the investigation and misused his authorities. He, therefore, asked for remand and prayed to hand over the accused to NAB for further investigation.

The NAB had arrested Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power (Private) Limited (QATPL) CEO Ahad Khan Cheema from his office on Wednesday.

Cheema, a close aide to the chief minister Punjab, was arrested for the ongoing investigation into the affairs of alleged irregularities in the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) for awarding a contract for the Aashiana-e-Iqbal project.

According to a NAB official, the accused was arrested after he failed to appear before a combined investigation team (CIT) of the Bureau. He said the CIT had summoned him for the second time on February 16 with all the relevant record regarding the award of the contract, which was entrusted to him by the chief minister, as well as purchase of 32-kanal land situated at Mauza Tedha, Tehsil Cantt, Lahore, but he didn't show up.

"In our second notice issued on February 12, we had made it clear to Cheema that if he didn't comply with the notice, he might have to face the consequences as provided in Section 2 of the Schedule of NAO, 1999," the official said.

Cheema was also facing a probe into his assets allegedly beyond known sources of income. Cheema has served on key posts in Punjab even being a junior officer. Among the top slots he held during the last decade or so included secretary higher education department, DCO Lahore, DG LDA in two terms and now the incumbent CEO QATPL.

During the tenure of Cheema, the LDA completed some of the major projects in Lahore worth billions of rupees, including Metro Bus, Walton flyover and Azadi Chowk flyover. Former governor Chaudhry Sarwar had decorated Cheema with Tamgha-e-Imtiaz on the eve of Pakistan Day in 2014. The award was conferred upon him by the president of Pakistan in recognition of his outstanding and meritorious services in the field of public service.

The CIT has already recorded the statement of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the same case last month. Similarly, former secretary implementation to the Punjab chief minister and the incumbent secretary to the prime minister Fawad Hassan Fawad has also recorded his statement before the NAB.

The Bureau, after detecting alleged illegalities/irregularities in the PLDC affairs, had launched the investigation into the agreement signed between the PLDC and M/s Anhui Construction Engineering Group owned by Ali Sajjad, M/s Bismillah Engineering Company owned by Nadeem Zia and M/s Sparco Group for the construction of Ashiana Iqbal project. The NAB had received a number of complaints regarding the deal involving 3,000-kanal government land between the PLDC and the companies.