LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court Tuesday issued notices to National Accountability Bureau on the bail petitions of former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother former provincial minister Khawaja Salman Rafique in Paragon City case.
Khawaja brothers through their counsel Advocate Amjad Pervez pleaded that the NAB implicated them in the case without having any incriminating material against them.
The counsel argued that the brothers had extended full cooperation to the NAB during the investigation and furnished all documents to prove that they had no link to the Paragon City Society. However, they said the NAB arrested them on political grounds.
They were of the view that they had been sent to jail on judicial remand and there was no cogent reason to keep them behind the bars. They asked the court to grant them post-arrest bail.
The NAB had arrested the Khawaja brothers on December 11, 2018 after the LHC had withdrawn the relief of interim pre-arrest bail they enjoyed for almost three months. An accountability court had sent them on judicial remand on February 02 last.
The NAB alleged that Saad Rafique through his “benamidar” wife Ghazala and in connivance with his brother Salman, former MPA Qaiser Amin Butt and Nadeem Zia established a housing project in the name of Air Avenue.
It said the project was later converted into a new housing project namely Paragon City Pvt Ltd. The Paragon City was an illegal society and not approved by the Lahore Development Authority, it added.
It was alleged that the suspects along with other accomplices cheated the public at large and obtained illegal financial benefits from the funds of the illegal society. It said former railways minister had been continuously receiving monitory benefits from the housing project as he obtained 40-kanal land in his own name and in the name of his brother.
It said Saad received Rs100 million approximately from Executive Builders (proxy setup of Paragon City) in bank accounts of M/s Saadain Associates and M/s KSR Associates.