Khawaja Brothers Remanded In NAB Custody

An accountability court on Wednesday handed over Pakistan Muslim League-N leaders Khawaja Saad Rafique and Khawaja Salman Rafique to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on 10-day physical remand in Paragon City Housing scam.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Dec, 2018 ) :An accountability court on Wednesday handed over Pakistan Muslim League-N leaders Khawaja Saad Rafique and Khawaja Salman Rafique to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on 10-day physical remand in Paragon City Housing scam.

Earlier, the NAB officials produced Khawaja brothers before Accountability Court Judge Syed Najamul Hassan amid strict security.

The NAB prosecutor pleaded with the court for physical remand of the brothers for investigation, saying that the brothers were actual owners of Paragon City and they were running affairs through benamidars. He submitted that Shahid Butt and Qaisar Amin Butt, co-accused in the scam, had admitted that Khawaja brothers were real owners of the Paragon society, in their confessional statements.

He alleged that both brothers exchanged land with the society, which was a dubious matter. He also submitted that Khawaja brothers received Rs 100 million and they failed to give justification for it.

However, Khawaja brothers' counsel Amjad Pervaiz opposed the remand plea and submitted that all allegations against his clients were baseless and NAB did not have an iota of evidence against them. He said that both brothers did not had any link with the Paragon Society.

He submitted that both brothers were running advertisement, marketing companies and received Rs 100 million as marketing and advertisement fee from the Executive builders in five years. He submitted that the brothers legally exchanged land with Paragon Society and also paid Rs 30 million on account of development charges.

At this stage, Khawaja Saad Rafique also apprised the court about lack of facilities in the NAB custody.

However, the court reserved the decision on remand request for sometime but later, handed over Khawaja brothers to NAB on 10-day physical remand while allowing the remand request. The court also directed for provision of necessary facilities to the brothers and sought a report from DG NAB in this regard.

The court directed NAB officials to produce both the brothers on expiry of remand term, Dec 22.

Meanwhile, strict security arrangements were made inside and outside the court premises on this occasion besides deployment of anti-riot force.

It is pertinent to mention here that Khawaja brothers were arrested on Tuesday (Dec 11) after a Lahore High Court bench dismissed their pre-arrest bail petitions.