LAHORE: An accountability court extended till January 5 the physical remand of PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique, who are being probed by the National Accountability Bureau in the Paragon Housing scam case.
After the brothers were brought to the accountability court today amid tight security, NAB’s Special Prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua presented his arguments on behalf of the bureau.
The NAB prosecutor told the court that, during the 10-day initial remand, the bureau probed the funds allegedly received by the siblings from Saadain Associates and Executive Builders.
Janjua further apprised the court that a certain Farhan Ali was handling the accounts of Executive Builders and Paragon, alleging that Rs6.2 million had been transferred directly into Saad’s account from Paragon’s.
Saad, according to Janjua, claimed that the transfer was a payment of commission but did not provide them with any details.
Janjua said that NAB investigators asked Saad and Salman to provide the whereabouts of the people to whom they had provided “services” — a request the brothers did not oblige to, he claimed.
“We want to record those people’s statements but they [the Khawaja brothers] aren’t telling us anything,” the prosecutor complained.
Amjad Pervez, the Khawaja brothers’ counsel, argued that the commission obtained by their clients from Executive Builders had been declared in the tax returns. “The facts told by the Khawaja brothers are being distorted,” he said.
The siblings’ counsel opposed NAB’s request for an extension to their remand, saying that “granting of remand to settle internal disputes of people” was unfair.
On Dec 12, the court had granted the bureau a 10-day physical remand of the brothers, a day after they had taken the siblings into custody following the rejection of their petition to obtain pre-arrest bail.
