LAHORE: A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team raided the Paragon Housing Society office Thursday and seized the relevant record.
However, a NAB spokesman said no one could be arrested during the raid. Railways Minister Kh Saad Rafique is often attributed to the Paragon society, but he has denied owning it. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday informed the Lahore High Court (LHC) that the arrest of former head of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Ahad Khan Cheema in Aashiana-e-Iqbal housing scheme scam was done after meeting all legal requirements.
A written reply, filed before a two-judge bench on behalf of the NAB Lahore DG, said, the Bureau had initiated an inquiry on complaints received about the provincial government’s housing project. Cheema being the then LDA director general was summoned more than once but he failed to appear before the investigation team.
The bench led by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi adjourned further hearing of the petition till March 7 as the counsel for Cheema was not available due to his appearance before the Supreme Court in Islamabad.
The reply further stated that the NAB obtained physical remand of Cheema from an accountability court till March 5. It urged the court to dismiss the petition filed by Cheema for being not maintainable as arrest could not be challenged during physical remand. The former head of the LDA had challenged his arrest through Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar with a plea that the NAB violated the related laws before his arrest.
The counsel previously argued before the court that the petitioner had provided all the required information to the NAB. However, he said the Bureau got offended with the petitioner’s response and arrested him.
He said the petitioner was transferred from post of LDA director general on April 28, 2016 and record of the said project was not in his possession. He said the housing project was assigned by Punjab Development Company through an agreement on Jan 20, 2015 to the LDA when the petitioner was its director general.
He said the petitioner provided all information about his property in question to the NAB but he was taken into custody and a rough statement of allegations was served upon him. He asked the court to set aside the arrest of the petitioner and order the NAB to release him.
