NAB summons Saad, Salman in housing scam on 15th

LAHORE: The investigation wing of the National Accountability Bureau, Lahore, on Sunday, summoned former minister for railways Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Salman Rafique in the Paragon Housing scam by August 15. It was learnt that the bureau has summoned the Khawaja brothers, directing them to appear before the investigation team along with relevant record.

Previously, the investigation team had grilled Khawaja Saad Rafique for more than two hours in the same case. At that time as per NAB, he was unable to satisfy the investigators due to which he had been summoned again.

As per the scam details, NAB had started an investigation in November 2017 into a mega land scam involving Khawaja Saad Rafique’s Paragon Housing Society in Lahore and the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC).

The bureau had written to the PLDC to submit record regarding its project Ashiana Iqbal Lahore for which a contract agreement was signed between the PLDC and Anhui Construction Engineering Group owned by Director Paragon Exchange Ali Sajjad, Bismillah Engineering Company owned by the chief executive of Paragon City Nadeem Zia and Sparco Group.

Later, the bureau had sought an explanation from the brothers regarding “exchange of their 50 Kanal piece of land with ‘developed plots’ measuring 40 Kanal in the Paragon Housing Society through an agreement.

Furthermore, the bureau had arrested Muneer Zia and Umar Zia, brothers of Paragon city Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nadeem Zia. However, Nadeem Zia is still at large and most probably has fled the country.