LHC extends interim bail of Saad Rafique, brother in corruption case

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday extended interim bail of Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique in a corruption case, ARY News reported.

The bail of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and his brother has been extended till December 11.

Saad Rafique had filed a petition in the LHC, claiming that he and his brother were not involved in any corruption and cooperated with the probe team to the core.

Deputy Prosecutor General National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Chaudhry Khaliquz Zaman, during the last hearing on Nov 26, told the court that arrest orders of the PML-N leader had already been issued.

The court sought the arrest orders, to which, NAB official replied that they were in bureau’s Lahore office. The LHC judge expressed resentment and said the NAB team didn’t look serious to nab the person it was investigating.

Saad Rafique and his brother are under NAB investigation in Paragon Housing scam.

In the first week of October, the Interior Ministry on the request of the anti-graft watchdog had placed the names of the former federal minister and his brother on blacklist. The name of chief executive officer of Paragon Housing Society Lahore, Qaiser Amin Butt, was also put on the blacklist.

The NAB had launched an investigation into the scandal after protests by dozens of victims against the housing society fraud.

Former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general Ahad Cheema and others are in custody over allegations of corruption against them in Ashiana Iqbal Housing Society scam.