An accountability court on Thursday adjourned the hearing of Ashiana Housing Scheme case till Oct 1, and summoned more prosecution witnesses on the next date of hearing.
Accountability Court Judge Sajid Ali conducted the case proceedings, wherein Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and Ahad Cheema appeared before the court and marked their attendance. Former secretary implementation to chief minister Fawad Hassan Fawad did not appear because of the exemption from personal appearance, granted to him by the court. The court has recorded statements of 23 prosecution witnesses so far, whereas the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had submitted a list of 86 witnesses in the case.
The court had indicted 13 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 the PLDC. It said he, in connivance with his co-suspects, awarded a contract to an ineligible proxy firm that resulted in failure of Ashiana Housing scheme, causing a loss to public exchequer and deprived 61,000 applicants of houses.
