Paragon Housing scam case adjourned

LAHORE: An accountability court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of Paragon Housing scam case until May 6. The court has granted exemption to Khawaja Saad Rafique from personal appearance on his application seeking exemption due to the lockdown and coronavirus situation.

However, co-accused Khawaja Salman Rafique appeared before the court. The court adjourned the hearing directing the prime witness of the NAB, Qaiser Amin Butt, to appear before the court.

It is pertinent to mention here Qaiser Amin Butt has not been appearing before the court since the last many hearings apparently due to health reasons. According to the reference details, Qaiser Amin Butt, the main accused in the Paragon Housing scam, voluntarily disclosed the facts related to the commission of offence and requested for pardon under Section 26 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (NAO 1999), which was granted by the competent authority. NAB filed reference against Khawaja Saad Rafique, Khawaja Salman Rafique, Nadeem Zia Pirzada, his son Umer Zia and Farhan Ali. The NAB stated in the reference that Saad Rafique, in connivance with his wife Ghazala Saad Rafique, brother Salman Rafique, Qaiser Amin Butt and Nadeem Zia, started a housing project namely Air Avenue, which was an illegal housing society. Later, it was converted into M/s Paragon City (Pvt) Ltd. Saad Rafique and Salman Rafique, in connivance with Nadeem Zia and Qaiser Amin Butt, defrauded a large number of members of the housing society.

Saad opened a company, Executive Builders, in his and his wife’s name, and later converted it into Paragon and withdrew a large sum of amount from the account of Executive Builders. The Khwaja brothers embezzled the funds of illegal housing society for personal gains, and collected heavy amounts despite clear directions from the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) that the society was illegal.