PHOTO: LHC.GOV.PK
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday extended the interim bail of former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ministers Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Salman Rafique till November 26 in the Paragon Housing Society scam case.
A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, while hearing the case also sought a report from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on a fresh application seeking transfer of the inquiry from NAB Director General Shahzad Saleem to another ‘impartial’ officer.
The counsel for Khawaja brothers alleged that the NAB DG had become a party against the PML-N and violated the code of conduct by revealing inside inquiry stories on TV channels.
He questioned the impartiality of the official, adding that no fair inquiry could be even thought of during the presence of Saleem, whose role was exposed on different media channels.
The court remarked that it had sent the matter to NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, who would look into it and proceed in accordance with the law.
The counsel prayed the court to seek a reply from bureau instead of sending the matter to the chairman, upon which the NAB prosecutor said the organisation would submit a reply if the court sought it.
The bench asked the prosecutor to tell under what sections the court could transfer a NAB inquiry.
Several PML-N workers, chanting slogans, had gathered outside the LHC to welcome their leaders.
Talking to the media, Rafique said, “The PTI is using NAB as a tool for political victimisation of the PML-N leaders rather than utilising it for public welfare.”
He said he was not afraid of going to jail, alleging that the NAB DG “is spreading propaganda on TV channels and has violated the code of conduct”.
It is worth mentioning that on November 13 PML-N firebrand Rafique and his brother Salman sought transfer of NAB inquiries through a plea stating that the Lahore NAB DG had become a party against the PML-N camp and violated the code of conduct by revealing inside inquiry stories on TV channels.
They prayed the court to transfer the inquiries from the NAB DG to another impartial officer.
They further prayed the court to direct the NAB chairman to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the official for violating the code of conduct.
In their plea for protective bail, the PML-N leaders had contended that they had provided relevant documents to NAB and were cooperating but even then they had apprehensions that they would be arrested as soon as they appeared before the bureau’s officials.
They implored that NAB had adopted a practice of summoning people for a specific inquiry and arresting them in some other case, citing the example of former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif’s case.
The LHC granted interim bail to both the brothers on October 15 after NAB initiated a corruption probe against them.
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