PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif arrested for corruption in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), on Friday arrested the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif in Lahore over his alleged involvement in a mega housing scheme scam.
Shahbaz Sharif, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, former Punjab’s CM and younger brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, will be produced before an accountability court for remand on Saturday.
He has been accused of corruption in Rs 14 billion Ashiana Housing Scheme case. The project was aimed at providing housing facilities to the public at subsidized rates in Lahore. Despite spending millions of rupees and a lapse of many years, the project could not be initiated.
Following his arrest, Shahbaz was locked up in Lahore’s NAB office. “The NAB has arrested former Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif in the Ashiana company case,” said a press release issued by NAB.
Shahbaz, the PML-N president, was detained by NAB officials and his car along with his private staff who accompanied him as security were sent away. He had reportedly appeared for a routine hearing of the Saaf Pani case – another major scandal against the PML-N leadership – when NAB officials arrested him in connection with the housing scam.
The arrest comes a little over a week ahead of the by-polls scheduled for October 14.
The blue-eyed officers of Shahbaz and Nawaz, Lahore Development Authority former director general Ahad Cheema and Fawad Hasan Fawad, former principal secretary to Nawaz Sharif, are already in NAB custody in the Ashiana Housing case.
In his statement before NAB in August, Fawad had claimed that he had awarded a contract to a “favourite firm” in the Ashiana Housing project on Shahbaz’s order. Fawad had reportedly also provided “incriminating evidence” against the younger Sharif in the corruption case, making it difficult for him to defend himself before NAB’s investigators.
The PML-N Parliamentary Party said Shahbaz’s arrest was made without seeking permission from the NA speaker.
In a statement, the PML-N Parliamentary Party said that the “unfortunate history of using NAB against political opponents was being repeated. This arrest which took place close to the by-elections shows that the government is scared of the PML-N.”
Information minister Fawad Chaudhry said the Imran Khan government has zero tolerance policy towards corruption. “There will be more arrests in the coming days,” he added.