LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique after their bail pleas were rejected by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday.
Both of them were facing NAB inquiry in Paragon Housing Society scam.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Tariq Abbasi heard the petition of the brothers seeking an extension in their interim bail. Initially, the court extended their interim bail till December 13, however, the court later rejected their petitions.
The Khawaja brothers were arrested in housing society scandal after the court rejected their pleas for extension in bail, the bureau said in a statement.
The court order is indicative of presence of sufficient evidences in the scam, it added.
The NAB started the investigation in November 2017, into a mega land scam involving Khwaja Saad Rafique’s Paragon Housing Society in Lahore and the Punjab Land Development Company (PLDC).
The bureau had sought records from the PLDC regarding its project Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Scheme in Lahore, for which a contract agreement was signed between the land authority 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.
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.
On November 27, a judicial magistrate of district courts recorded statement of Qaiser Amin Butt, an accused in the scam under 164 CrPC.
It has learnt that the judge recorded statement of Qaiser Amin in person. As per court sources, Qaiser in his statement said that he started his property business in 1998. He claimed that in 2002, Khawaja Saad Rafique introduced him with Nadeem Zia. He said that in 2006, he started business with Nadeem Zia on 50 percent partnership but now Nadeem Zia is owner of 92 percent of the business.
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