NAB not able to prove corruption charges: Kh brothers Lahore High Court (LHC), on Monday, received bail petitions from former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique in the Paragon Housing scam case.
In their request, petitioners have said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has failed to prove its charges against them even though they have fully cooperated with the watchdog body and provided all records. They pleaded the court to issue their release on bail orders.
The Khawaja brothers were sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand by an accountability court in Lahore on Saturday after rejecting the NAB’s plea for an extension in their physical remand. Khawaja Saad and Salman Rafique were arrested by the accountability watchdog on December 11 after the Lahore High Court rejected their bail plea. The NAB had launched an investigation into the alleged corruption in Paragon Housing SOciety in November last year when many victims had staged demonstrations against the fraudulent schemes committed by the housing society.
In a similar case against the Ashiana Iqbal Housing Society scam, the accountability watchdog had arrested former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general Ahad Khan Cheema and others over charges of corruption. The following investigation revealed that Cheema had misused his powers and received a large amount of money in exchange for awarding the housing project’s contract to Casa Developers. This amount was allegedly transferred from an account of the Paragon Housing Society.
Published in Daily Times, February 19th 2019.
