Saad Rafique, brother sent to jail on 14-day judicial remand

LAHORE: An accountability court on Saturday sent former railways minister, Khawaja Saad Rafique, and his brother Salman Rafique on a 14-day judicial remand to jail in the Paragon Housing scheme case, ARY News reported.

The former minister and his brother were produced before the court by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) today (Saturday). Accountability judge Syed Najmul Hasan will hear the case.

Rejecting the NAB’s plea for further physical remand of the duo, the court instead granted 14-day judicial remand and sent them to jail.

Later, speaking to media, Saad Rafique said the NAB had no proof against him or his brother. “Whoever talks about the rights faces the same treatment that we are currently going through,” he moaned.

He said he was facing the [cruel] treatment for adhering to the Constitution and the law.

The former minister claimed that prime minister was trying to influence the Public Accounts Committee.

Rafique and his brother have so far completed 53-day remand in the case. Khawaja brothers are currently being investigated by the accountability watchdog for alleged corruption in Paragon Housing Society case and accumulating wealth beyond known sources of income.

Rafique and his brother were arrested on Dec 11 after the Lahore High Court rejected their bail plea. During the hearing, the former minister’s counsel informed the court that his client had nothing to do with PAS and was being framed in the case.

NAB had launched an investigation into the alleged scam in November last year after a number of victims staged protests and held a press conference at the Lahore Press Club against the fraud committed by the housing society.

Last year, the anti-graft authority arrested former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general Ahad Khan Cheema and others over allegations of corruption in the Ashiana Iqbal Housing Society scam.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Cheema had misused his authority and received huge sums of money in return for awarding the contract of the project to Casa Developers.

The amount was allegedly paid from the account of the Paragon Housing Society.