ISLAMABAD: Retired civil services officer Ahad Cheema has been appointed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s adviser on establishment.
President Arif Alvi has approved the appointment of Ahad Cheema as adviser to the PM on the summary sent by the PM’s office. The former civil servant and senior bureaucrat will be five the status of federal minister.
The Cabinet Division has also issued notification of his appointment. His appointment comes after his resignation from civil service was accepted by the PM Shehbaz Sharif.
Cheema was the first high-profile arrest in Punjab by the NAB before the general elections of 2018. A BPS-20 PAS officer, he was the head of the Lahore Development Authority during the last PML-N government.
In April, the coalition federal government withdrew the charge sheet against Cheema and also notified that all pending inquiries against him have been dismissed.
He had served 38 months (Feb 2018 to April 2021) in jail while being under trial in different NAB references. On June 4, the Prime Minister’s Office accepted the resignation from service.
Cheema was released from jail last year after a pre-conviction incarceration spanning over three years in connection with three references filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
He had also served as deputy commissioner of Lahore and higher education department secretary. Cheema was conferred the award of Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.
