The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday heard the pre-arrest bail plea of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) President Ameer Muqam.
A two-member bench of PHC comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Nasir Mehfooz heard the pre-arrest bail petition of Ameer Muqam. The petitioner’s lawyer Barrister Mudassir Amir told the court that Ameer Muqam is currently residing in Dubai for medical treatment.
He said that Ameer Muqam’s medical reports are provided with the plea for exemption from personal appearance in the hearing.
Justice Ijaz Anwar remarked that the court is accepting exemption plea just for his medical treatment. He directed Ameer Muqam to appear before the court in the next hearing.
Later, the high court adjourned the hearing till March 2.
Earlier in January, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had converted inquiry into the investigation against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Engineer Ameer Muqam, in charges of possessing assets beyond known means of income.
The NAB KP had started the inquiry against Ameer Muqam in July 2019, after orders of the NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal. The inquiry has been transformed into an investigation after the approval of chairman NAB.
The NAB accuses Muqam of purchasing properties in Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. He is also accused of purchasing precious agricultural land in Swat, Shangla and Peshawar, besides having several bank accounts.
Muqam’s wealth and luxurious lifestyle do not match his known income and that is why investigation against him was initiated, said officials privy to the matter.
Engineer Ameer Muqam is the President of PML-N Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He has previously served as adviser to the prime minister. He had contested the July 25 election from two National Assembly and two provincial assembly seats on the PML-N ticket but lost all four.
On the other hand, an accountability court in Lahore has recorded testimonies of two witnesses in Ashiana housing scam case. The hearing of Ashiana housing scam case was conducted by judge Amjad Nazir Chaudhry, whereas, the accused including Shehbaz Sharif, Ahad Cheema and Shahid Shafiq were produced before the accountability court.
Two witnesses, Moiz Ahmed and Rizwan Haider have recorded their testimonies in the courtroom. During the hearing, Shehbaz Sharif sought permission from the court to go back after registering his attendance. However, the judge rejected to permit him for leaving the court. The judge remarked that it would be a different scenario if the accused was on bail, but he is currently in judicial custody.
The accused could not be given the facility as it is a legal requirement to record testimonies of witnesses in his presence, the judge remarked. Later, the court recorded statements of the witnesses and summoned more witnesses in the next hearing. The hearing was adjourned till February 11.
In the NAB reference, Shehbaz Sharif had been accused of misusing his authority to illegally issue directives for cancellation of contract with regard to the housing project in 2014.
In March 2014, the former chief minister had visited the Ashiana-e-Iqbal project site and halted its bidding process, according to the reference.
The Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC) was looking after the project, but Mr Sharif after visiting the site decided to assign the project to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) which resulted in award of contract to the Lahore Casa Developers (JV), causing Rs 715m loss to the exchequer, the reference reads.
The NAB had arrested Shehbaz Sharif in the scam on October 5, 2018 inside its Lahore office when he appeared there in response to its summon for questioning in connection with a probe into the Saaf Pani Company scam.
According to NAB, “The contract for the housing scheme was won by a construction company titled Chaudhry Latif and Sons but former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and his aides awarded the Rs 14 billion contract to Lahore Casa Developers – a proxy group of Paragon City (Pvt) Limited, which is said to be owned by then Railways Minister Saad Rafique.”
