Paragon Housing Society

NAB approves filing of corruption reference against Khwaja brothers

By Numan Wahab

LAHORE: The regional board of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday approved filing of a reference against former minister railways Khwaja Saad Rafique, his brother Khwaja Salman Rafique and one Nadeem Zia in Paragon Housing Society scam.

The decision was taken at NAB’s regional board meeting (RBM), Lahore with NAB Lahore Director General Shahzad Saleem in the chair. Major developments regarding mega corruption cases were discussed in the meeting.

As per the case details, shared by NAB, one Qaiser Amin Butt and accused Nadeem Zia established a company named Air Avenue (Pvt) Ltd in June 2003. Later, it was converted into M/s Paragon City (Pvt) Ltd on Aug 11, 2003. Qaisar Butt and Nadeem Zia acted as directors of Paragon City scheme and applied for approval of a ‘Lay-out Plan’ of the scheme by Town Nazim Aziz Bhatti Town Lahore for land measuring up to 7,002 kanals. For which, the technical approval was taken in January 2005. At the time of seeking an approval, Paragon City owned land measuring 1,085 kanals only, which was far less than 7,002 kanals land.

During the course of case proceedings, it was revealed that Paragon City Housing scheme still remains an illegal project, as an approval was not acquired from the Lahore Development Authority (LDA). The role of Khwaja Saad Rafique and Khwaja Salman Rafique in embezzlement of funds was referred to as both accused obtained 20 developed plots in the society measuring 2-kanal each, which were taken as exemption against transfer of 50 kanals of land to Paragon City.

Accused Khwaja Saad Rafique remains sole proprietor of Saadain Associates and accused Salman Rafique is sole proprietor of KSR Associates. An amount of Rs58 million was transferred from bank accounts of Executive Builders, a sister concern of the Paragon City project, to the bank account of Saadain Associates, whereas, an amount of Rs39 million was transferred from the bank accounts of Executive Builders to KSR Associates.

However, Qaiser Amin Butt was arrested by NAB Lahore on Nov 14, 2018, who got recorded his statement of becoming an approver against Khwaja Brothers and Nadeem Zia before the magistrate in Dec 2018.

The NAB Lahore arrested Khwaja brothers on Dec 11, 2018, who are in judicial custody at the time. So far, 68 claimants of Rs549 million have approached NAB Lahore against the management of Paragon Housing society. An investigation report, with the recommendations to approve filing of the reference was forwarded to NAB Headquarters for ultimate approval of NAB Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal.