Paragon City director remanded

LAHORE:  

An accountability court granted NAB officials 15-day physical remand of the Paragon City Director Qaiser Amin Butt in the Paragon Housing Society Scam on Monday. Butt is accused of corruption and corrupt practices in connivance with co-accused Nadeem Zia and others at Paragon City (Pvt) Limited.

During the hearing, NAB's prosecutor requested the accountability court to grant officials a 15-day physical remand of the accused, which the court did.

Butt was arrested by NAB on November 14, 2018 on charges of launching an illegal housing scheme known as Paragon City (Pvt) Ltd in connivance with Nadeem Zia and others during 2005 on the basis of forged and fabricated documents along with alleged approvals from TMA Aziz Bhatti Town, Lahore.

Around 89 victims of the housing scheme approached NAB Lahore demanding that their financial losses be redressed.
Meanwhile, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore arrested nine stenographers for their alleged illegal and unlawful appointment in Punjab police.

The accused were identified as Rashid Mehmood, Andul Qayyum, Mehmoodul Hassan, Muhammad Shahid Ameen, Abid Maqbool, Yasir Ali, Rehan Anwar, Muhammad Naeem Aslam and Faisal Mushtaq.

Investigations were authorised by the competent authority after a source report revealed that during the year 2011-2013, a total of 272 stenographers were appointed by the Punjab police. Around 22 of these appointments have been found to be illegal and unlawful by forging and fabricating records.

These appointees had neither applied for the post nor appeared for the examination conducted by the Punjab Police Service Commission. Earlier, NAB Lahore officials arrested seven accused stenographers on October 12 while the other nine accused approached the Lahore High Court to acquire pre-arrest bail.

However, NAB officials got custody of the nine accused after their pre-arrest bails were cancelled. They will be produced before an accountability court on Tuesday for their physical remand.