Paragon Housing scam: LHC extends bail granted to Saad Rafique, brother

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday extended the bail granted to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Salman Rafique in the Paragon Housing scam and directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to decide immediately on the basis of law whether a team probing them will be changed or not.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Tariq Abbasi heard the petition filed by the Khawaja brothers for pre-arrest bail.

In the petition, the brothers said that they were not involved in any form of corruption. “We fully cooperated with NAB in the investigation and our pre-arrest bail should be approved,” the petition stated.

The bench then asked the NAB lawyer whether documents pertaining to the arrest been given to the Khawaja brothers to which he replied, “The documents will be given when they are arrested.”

Expressing anger over his response, the bench questioned, “Can those documents not even be shared with the court?” At this, the NAB lawyer said, “The documents related to the arrest are at the NAB office.”

The bench then questioned whether the Khawaja brothers were present in court and was told that they are. The brothers then told the court, “We fear that NAB will arrest us.”

After hearing arguments of the respondents’ counsel, the bench extended the bail granted to the Khawaja brothers till December 5.

The bench also directed the NAB chairman to make a decision immediately in keeping with the law on the brothers’ petition to change the team probing them.

NAB officials say there are three inquiries ongoing against Saad Rafique pertaining to the Ashiana Iqbal Housing Scheme, Paragon Housing scam and corruption in Pakistan Railways.

The accountability watchdog earlier also issued Rafique’s arrest warrants.