ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Court in Lahore on Friday handed over former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s principal secretary, Fawad Hassan Fawad, to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on 14-day physical remand, reported Radio Pakistan.
Fawad was arrested on Thursday after he failed to satisfy the anti-graft body over his alleged association with the Ashiana-e-Iqbal housing scam.
He is charged on various counts of alleged corruption, including the Ashiana-e-Iqbal case, and working in a private bank from 2005 to 2006 without formal permission.
The country’s top watchdog requested that the accountability court grant physical remand of the accused for further investigation.
Fawad wrongfully awarded the Ashiana-e-Iqbal contract to “favorites” when it was legally won by construction company Chaudhry Latif and Sons, NAB officials said.
This resulted in the government having to pay 5.9 million Pakistani rupees ($48,470) in compensation to the company. Due to the delay, the project’s cost escalated by billions of rupees.
Additionally, in his capacity as provincial health secretary, Fawad is said to have acquired six mobile health units purchased at a higher-than-market rate, said the officials.
He is also being probed by the NAB for possessing assets beyond known sources of income. Sharif on Thursday called Fawad’s arrest “regrettable.”
Sharif’s top aide handed to NAB on 14-day physical remand
Sharif’s top aide handed to NAB on 14-day physical remand
US-based firm sells 75 percent stake in Pakistan’s leading starch producer to Nishat Group
- Rafhan Maize, prominent Pakistani starch and food ingredients producer, has a market capitalization of $355 million, says brokerage firm
- Brokerage firm Arif Habib Ltd. says transaction ranks among largest mergers and acquisitions deals in Pakistan in nearly two decades
Karachi: US-based firm Ingredion Incorporated has formally agreed to sell up to 75% of its stake in Rafhan Maize Products, a leading Pakistani starch and food ingredients manufacturer, to Pakistan’s Nishat Group, Ingredion’s financial adviser said on Sunday.
Rafhan Maize is a subsidiary of Ingredion Incorporated, a prominent global corn refiner which began its operations in Pakistan as a pioneer of the corn refining industry in 1953. Over the last six decades, Rafhan Maize says it has expanded operations to become one of the country’s premier agro-based industries.
Nishat Group, meanwhile, is a Pakistani private sector business conglomerate. Brokerage firm Arif Habib Limited acted as the exclusive financial adviser to Ingredion Incorporated for the transaction.
“This landmark transaction ranks among the largest M&A deals in Pakistan in nearly two decades, giving the Nishat Group a controlling stake in Rafhan Maize,” Shahid Ali Habib, chief executive officer of Arif Habib Ltd., said in a statement.
He added that Rafhan Maize has a market capitalization of approximately Rs100 billion [$355 million].
Habib described Rafhan Maize as a “market leader” in Pakistan’s starch industry, operating three production facilities nationwide with a production capacity more than five times its nearest competitor.
“Ingredion shall retain a strategic stake in the company and continue to support the Nishat Group,” he added.
