Production orders of Khawaja Saad Rafique, brother issued

LAHORE: The production orders of incarcerated Member National Assembly (MNA) Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Salman Rafique have been issued, ARY News reported on Monday.

Presently the Khawaja brothers are in the custody of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over financial irregularities in the Paragon Housing Society scandal.

The production orders of Khawaja Saad Rafique and Salman Rafique were issued by the Speakers of National and Punjab Assemblies respectively.

“A team of the accountability watchdog has left for the federal capital along with MNA Khawaja Saad Rafique,” sources privy to the matter said.

Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser has issued production orders of Saad Rafique to make sure his appearance in the Law and Justice Committee meeting, said sources.

Last week, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had sought production orders for Khawaja Saad Rafique to enable him to attend the upcoming session of the lower house of Parliament.

Sources said PML-N leaders Rana Sanaullah and Marriam Aurangzeb submitted a request to NA Speaker Asad Qaiser to issue production orders for the former railway minister Khawaja Saad Rafique.

Paragon Housing Society scandal

NAB had launched the investigation into the scam in November, 2018, after a number of victims staged protests and held a press conference at the Lahore Press Club against what they termed housing society’s fraud.

Qaiser Amin Butt, a director of the Paragon Housing Society, was arrested in the month of November and agreed to become an approver and recorded his statement before the chairman NAB.

Sources said that Qaiser, who is a close friend of Khawaja Saad Rafique, revealed that Paragon Society was not approved by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and Khawaja brothers were the beneficial owners of the housing scheme.

He further disclosed that Paragon City Director Nadeem Zia was responsible for all transactions and Khawaja brothers used to receive all money in cash, sources added.

Paragon Society was not approved by the Lahore Development Authority and Khawaja brothers were the beneficial owners of the society, Qaiser had revealed.