LAHORE: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has summoned former Pakistan Railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and his younger brother former Punjab health minister Khawaja Salman Rafique in Paragon Housing Society scam on August 15.
NAB has also asked them to bring relevant record and documents of the case. NAB had launched an investigation into the case in November 2017. Paragon Housing Society was reportedly owned by Khawaja Saad Rafique. However, Saad had denied any connection with the housing society in a statement before the apex court.
NAB officials said they were analysing the record collected so far from different sources to establish the ownership of the society and were very close to it. Various violations were found a land deal between the Punjab Land Development Company and Paragon Housing Society. NAB said principally the exchange of land between two parties was illegal. Secondly, the deal was made in such a manner that the exchange of land avidly was an attempt to favour Paragon Society.
In Ashiana-e-Iqbal Housing Society scam, NAB had implicated and arrested ex-director general of Lahore Development Authority Ahad Khan Cheema and ex-prime secretary to the prime minister of Pakistan Fawad Hassan Fawad along with other accomplices.
During investigations of the arrested accused persons, NAB had found that the contract of the project was awarded to Casa Developers, a company that was not eligible for the contract according to Public-Private Partnership Act and a front company of Paragon Housing Society, by Cheema in exchange for a bribe of 40 kanals of land. A few weeks ago, NAB had arrested former SHO Barki. The accused person was nabbed for keeping an accused land-grabber into a police station for over a year without the registration of a case.
