The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday accepted bail petitions of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Member National Assembly (MNA), Khawaja Saad Rafique, and his brother, former Punjab minister Salman Rafique in the Paragon Housing Society case and sought a detailed answer from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in this regard.
The high court has directed the accountability watchdog to submit its response by March 6.
Khawaja brothers had previously submitted a bail petition, stating that the NAB had so far failed to prove any allegations against them even though they had fully cooperated in the investigation and provided the bureau with all required records.
They believed that the NAB was taking action against them on political grounds.
The accused were sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand till March 4 by an accountability court in Lahore on Saturday after it rejected the NAB’s plea for an extension in their physical remand. The two were taken into custody on December 11 after the LHC rejected their bail plea.
The accountability watchdog started an investigation against the brothers for their alleged corruption in Paragon Housing Society and accumulating wealth beyond known sources of income in November last year when many victims had staged protests at the Lahore Press Club against the fraudulent practices committed by the housing society. In a similar case, former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general Ahad Khan Cheema and others were arrested by the NAB over allegations of corruption in the Ashiana Iqbal Housing Society scam.
Published in Daily Times, February 20th 2019.
