LAHORE: A two-judge bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of Lahore High Court on Tuesday extended till November 26 the interim bails of PML-N former ministers Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Salman Rafique in Paragon Housing Society scam.
The court also sought a report from NAB on a fresh application for transferring inquiry from the Lahore NAB DG to another impartial officer.
The counsel for the Khawaja brothers pleaded the court that NAB DG Saleem Shehzad had become party against the PML-N camp and violated the code of conduct through revealing the inside stories of the inquiries on TV channels.
He questioned the impartiality of the NAB DG sand said no fair inquiry could be even thought of during the presence of the NAB DG whose role had exposed on different media channels.
At this, the court remarked they send the matter to the NAB chairman who would see the matter and proceed in accordance with law.
The counsel prayed to the court to seek reply from NAB rather than sending the matter to the NAB chairman. Upon which, a NAB prosecutor said the NAB would submit reply if court asked it to do so. The court then asked the NAB prosecutor to tell under what sections the court could transfer a NAB’s inquiry.
Meanwhile, several PML-N workers assembled at LHC to welcome their leaders. They also chanted slogans in favour of their leaders.
Talking to the media, Khawaja Saad Rafique said the PTI was using NAB as tool for political victimisation of the PML-N leaders rather than contributing to public welfare. “We are not afraid of going to jail. The NAB DG is making propaganda on TV channels and they have right to speak when the code of conduct will be violated”, he said.
On Nov 13, PML-N firebrand Khawaja Saad Rafiq and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafiq sought transfer of the inquiries of NAB initiated against them on a plea that the Lahore NAB DG had become party against the PML-N camp and violated the code of conduct through revealing the inside stories of inquiries on TV channels.
They prayed the court to transfer the inquiries from the NAB DG to another impartial officer. They prayed to the court to direct the NAB chairman to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the DG for violating the code of conduct.
In their protective bails, the PML-N leaders had contended that they provided relevant documents to NAB and they were cooperating with it but even then they were fear that they would be arrested as soon as they appeared before the NAB officials.
They implored that NAB had adopted a practice of summoning people for a specific inquiry but arrested them in some other case as had happened in Shahbaz Sharif’s case. LHC had granted interim bail to both on October 15 after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had initiated a corruption probe against them.