An accountability court on Wednesday granted 10-day physical remand of Khwaja Saad Rafiq and his brother Khwaja Salman Rafiq to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Paragon City Housing Society scam. The NAB Special Prosecutor submitted an application seeking 15 days physical remand of the two brothers.
The prosecutor contended that Khwaja Saad Rafiq through his 'benamidar' wife Ghazala Saad and in connivance with his brother Salman Rafiq, with abetment of Qaiser Amin Butt and Nadeem Zia, established a housing project in the name of Air Avenue. He said the project was later converted into a new housing project namely Paragon City Pvt. Ltd. He said the record showed that the Paragon City was an illegal society and not approved by the Lahore Development Authority.
He further stated that suspects along with other accomplices cheated the public at large and obtained illegal financial benefits from the funds of illegal society. He said Khwaja Saad was continuously receiving monitory benefits from the housing project as he obtained 40 kanal land in his own name and in the name of his brother. He said Saad Rafiq received Rs 100 million approximately from Executive Builders (proxy setup of Paragon City) in bank accounts of M/s Saadain Associates and M/s KSR Associates.
He pointed out that at least 90 individuals had filed complaints with the NAB who were not given plots in the Paragon City despite making payments. To a court's query, the prosecutor admitted that Khwaja brothers appeared before the investigations teams whenever they were summoned. The court expressed its displeasure over the prosecutor for not submitting handwritten statement of a co-suspect, Shahid Butt, and observed that the printed statement appeared to have been written by the NAB itself. The prosecutor pleaded that physical custody of the accused persons was imperative for the purposes of interrogation, confrontation with record and recovery of ill-gotten money.
The Khwajas' counsel told the court that the two brothers appeared before the bureau on each and every call-up summons and responded in writing to all the questionnaires they received from the investigators. He said his clients had disclosed their complete assets in the tax documents. He pointed out that Paragon City was established 15 years ago and the NAB could not furnish a single document to prove ownership of Khwaja brothers. He said all the land being attributed to the former ministers was a declared as an asset.
He argued that Qaiser Amin Butt on his very first appearance in the court had agreed to address grievances of all the affected persons. The counsel questioning the malafide stance of NAB said as to why the Bureau kept Qaisar Butt in custody and got his statement under section 164 of Cr. P.C when the dispute was going to be settled amicably. He said the NAB got recorded two statements of Qaisar Butt as its chairman did not like the first one. He said there was no need to grant physical remand.
The court however granted 10-day remand of the Khwaja brothers and directed the NAB authorities to produce them again on December 22. Meanwhile, the court also showed dismay over the NAB when Saad Rafiq complained about treatment he was meted out in the custody. Saad Rafiq said the washroom of his lock-up had no door latch. He also complained that there was camera installed in the lock-up.
The court directed the NAB to provide all basic facilities to the suspects in its custody. Even a convict could not be deprived of basic needs; the court observed and warned the NAB against subjecting inhuman treatment to suspects. Extraordinary security measures had been taken by the police as all roads around the judicial complex were cordoned off and closed for routine traffic before the appearance of the Khwaja brothers. However, hundreds of PML-N workers gathered outside the complex but were not allowed to further proceed. Holding posters of Khwaja brothers, the workers kept chanting slogans in favour of the PML-N. On his way to the courtroom, Saad Rafiq reciprocated the charged slogans of his party workers.