Rafique brothers real owners of Paragon society: Qasier Ameen tells court

ISLAMABAD: Former MNA of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Director Paragon City Qaiser Ameen Butt on Tuesday told the court that former railways minister Saad Rafique and his brother Salman Rafique were real owners of the Paragon City housing society, ARY News reported.

While detailing about timeline of his friendship with the Rafique brothers, the former lawmaker said he had had over 15-year long partnership with PML-N stalwart Khawaja Saad Rafique in the Paragon housing project. He said he was a real estate businessman and he knew Saad Rafique for the last 35 years.

“Saad and Salman expressed their desire to be my partner in 1997,” he said adding that Saad Rafique introduced him to Paragon City Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nadeem Zia.

This should be noted that officials of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday arrested Khawaja Saad Rafique and Khawaja Salman Rafique after the Lahore High Court rejected their bail plea in the case pertaining to Paragon City housing society scam.

Read More: NAB arrests Khawaja Saad Rafique, brother in Paragon Housing Scandal case

The director Paragon City said Saad, Salman, Nadeem and he jointly launched a company and they decided to construct Air Avenue housing society.

The PML-N leader said later the Rafique brothers withdrew their names from the project which left Nadeem and him as even partners.

He said the company’s name was kept Paragon Society in 2003 and they earned 14 billion rupees by selling commercial plots of the housing society. Saad used his influence to make Paragon registered in 2003, he added.

Qaiser Ameen Butt said the former railways minister used his influence to legalise all the matters of the project. Later, he said, Saad reduced Butt’s shares in the company and increased Nadeem Zia’s shares up to 92 percent.

He said real owners of the Paragon City were in fact Rafique brothers. He said they tricked people and deprived them of money.

Qaiser said Saad and Salman Rafique had 40 kanal on their names.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has said Saad Rafique misused his authorities and attempted to temper evidences in the case.

“He collected billions of rupees from people through illegal advertisement of the housing society,” the NAB said.