Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Khwaja Salman Rafiq both have questioned the jurisdiction of the NAB court and requested the court for their acquittal in Paragon City.
LAHORE: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-16th Oct, 2019) An accountability court has turned down petitions of both Khwaja Saad Rafiq and his brother Khwaja Salman Rafiq seeking acquittal in paragon city case, extended until Oct 30 their judicial remand.
According to the details, Accountability Court Judge Jawadul Hassan passed the reserved order and directed the NAB officials to keep continue their proceedings in accordance with the law. The court also sought witnesses’ statement about their role in Paragon city.
Both Khwaja brothers had challenged the hearing of the case on ground of jurisdiction and requested the court for their acquittal in the case. They had said that they had not been involved in corruption.
Previously, the accountability court judge Jawadul Hassan reserved judgment on applications of both Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Khwaja Salman Rafiq after their counsel Advocate Ashtar Ausaf and Amjad Pervaiz concluded their arguments.
The lawyers questioned the jurisdiction of the national accountability court saying that disputes regarding a private business did not come under the jurisdiction of NAB Ordinance, 1990 while their clients were innocent and had nothing to do with the corruption. They counsels argued that SECP was the right forum to look into the matter under the Companies Aact 2017.
In the reference against Khwaja brothers, NAB had said that the accused brothers bagged around Rs 18.2 millioin from M/s paragon City (Pvt) Limited in their bank accounts. The NAB said that both brothers established a housing project in the name of Air Avenue and deprived the public at large from their money.
Both leaders belonged to PML-N as Khwaja Saad Rafiq served as Federal Minister for Railways while Salman Rafiq was Minister for Specialized Healthcare Punjab. But both were arrested by the anti-graft boy over charges of plundering money from the citizens in the name of fake housing scheme and for their role in Paragon city scam.
