LAHORE: The principal secretary of former PM Nawaz Sharif, Fawad Hasan Fawad, has been acquitted by Accountability Court in cases of corruption and possessing assets beyond means, which is known as Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme scam.
Fawad Hasan Fawad was arrested by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in June 2018 on charges of corruption in Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme scam and three other projects. He was accused of owning illegal assets worth billions of rupees.
He was finally bailed after his date of retirement in 2020, on completion of 33 years of service, 19 months of which he spent in jail. Earlier, in 2020, the Lahore High Court granted him bail in the case of owning assets beyond means on Rs10 million surety bonds. The LHC division bench of Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi and Justice Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad was informed by Fawad’s counsel that the NAB had failed to indict Fawad despite two years in custody.
The Lahore Accountability court accepted the pleas by the accused that the prosecution’s case was mala fide, fabrication through concealment of material facts and had insufficient incriminating evidence against him.
The court ruled that the evidence against Fawad and the co-accused was insufficient, and acquitted Fawad and the co-accused, including his wife, brother and Dr Anjum Hassan.
