A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday hearing bail matter of leader of opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif sought feasibility report prepared for the construction of a drain and record of this project, if any, launched in Chiniot and other districts of the province. The court posed a query to both prosecution and the petitioner's counsel that as to how it will be determined whether the drain in question was constructed for primarily used for Ramzan Sugar Mills or for the benefit of public at large.

The bench deferred the hearing on bail petition of Shahbaz and Fawad Hassan Fawad, former principal secretary to Prime Minister also on the request of NAB prosecutor. Earlier, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday told the court that Fawad owned 14 "benami" accounts and a plaza in Rawalpindi having value of Rs. 5 billion.

The special prosecutor also told the bench that Fawad received Rs. 50 million as bribe from the company of Kamran Kiyani, brother of former army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, through bank accounts of his brother and sister-in-law. The bench headed by Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan was hearing bail petitions of Shahbaz Sharif in Ramzan Sugar Mills case and that of Fawad Hassan Fawad in Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme.

The NAB alleged that Shahbaz Sharif, being chief minister Punjab, had issued a directive for construction of a drain in district Chiniot primarily for the use of Ramzan Sugar Mills owned by his sons. It said Rs 200 million was spent for this purpose from public money. While Fawad being then secretary implementation to the Chief Minister had been accused of being involved in cancellation of lawful award of the housing scheme in a bid to gave the same to a company of his choice. He said Fawad wanted to award contract of the Ashiana housing scheme to Kiyani's company, however, it was not happened later. He said assets of Fawad were beyond his known sources of income.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019