Khawaja brothers’ remand extended

Accountability court sets Sept 17 as date to hear application for acquittal

LAHORE: An accountability court has extended the judicial remand of former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique for four more days. The court also fixed September 17 as the date to hear arguments on the brothers’ application for acquittal.

Saad Rafique and Salman Rafique were arrested in the Paragon Housing Society scandal and presented before Accountability Court Judge Jawadul Hassan after the expiry of their nine-day judicial remand.

As proceedings kicked off, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Prosecutor Tipu Ali submitted a response to an application filed by Khawaja Salman Rafique. However, a counsel, on behalf of Saad Rafique, also filed an application to seek an order to set aside the indictment of the brothers, saying all allegations levelled against his clients were baseless. Meanwhile, former attorney-general Ashtar Ausaf Ali filed his power of attorney on behalf of Saad Rafique.

After hearing the arguments, the accountability court issued notices to NAB and sought a reply. It also adjourned proceedings till September 17. Strict security arrangements were for the hearing.

At the last hearing, the court indicted the Khawaja brothers who pleaded not guilty.

Besides the Khawaja brothers, Nadeem Zia, Umar Zia and Farhan Ali were also nominated in the reference. The reference stated that the Khawaja brothers, through their ‘benamidars’ and with the abetment of former MPA Qaiser Amin Butt and Nadeem Zia, established a housing project in the name of Air Avenue.

The project was later converted into a new housing project namely Paragon City (Pvt) Ltd, which NAB said was an illegal society and not approved by the Lahore Development Authority. The former railways minister and his brother allegedly received monetary benefits of Rs58 million and Rs39 million, respectively, from the society through proxy firms under the garb of consultancy services, it added.

The Khawaja brothers were arrested on December 11, 2018 by the bureau. A Lahore High Court bench dismissed post-arrest bail petitions of the Khawaja brothers on June 18. They have not approached the Supreme Court in the matter as of yet.

*With additional input from APP 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2019.