LAHORE - In a major development, two senior leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-N, Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique, were arrested by the National Accountability Bureau after the Lahore High Court rejected their request for extension in pre-arrest bail on Tuesday.
Both the parliamentarians were sent to the NAB lockup in Lahore for investigations in connection with the much-hyped Paragon City scam. The authority would produce the Khawaja Brothers before an accountability court for physical remand on Wednesday (today).
The arrests come barely two weeks after Paragon Housing Society Director Qaiser Amin Butt became an approver against former Railways Minister Saad Rafique and co-accused Nadeem Zia.
Saad Rafique was elected MNA from Lahore during the recent by-polls while his brother Salman Rafique won MPA seat in the July 25 general elections. The arrests also created uproar in the National Assembly as well as the Punjab Assembly.
PML-N has approached the speakers of the national and the provincial assemblies to seek “production orders” for both the parliamentarians.
Following the arrests, a spokesman for the anti-graft authority claimed that the arrest of the accused was “necessary for the recovery of corruption money, collection of evidence, and concluding the inquiry/investigation in accordance with the law.”
The Lahore NAB officials also issued a ‘fact-sheet’ after the arrests stating that the “inquiry conducted so far reveals sufficient evidence to prove involvement of Khawaja Saad Rafique and Khawaja Salman Rafique” in the commission of offences as defined under section 9(a) and Schedule of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.
The NAB spokesman while sharing “grounds of arrest” further claimed that “accused Khawaja Saad Rafique through his benamidar wife Ghazala Saad Rafique, his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique, in association with Qaiser Amin Butt and Nadeem Zia established a housing project in the name of Air Avenue which was converted into a new housing project namely M/S Paragon City Private Limited.” However, “record shows that M/S Paragon City is an illegal society.”
“Accused (Khawaja Saad and Salman) in collusion, connivance, and collaboration of Nadeem Zia and Qaiser Amin Butt cheated members of public at large and obtained illegal pecuniary benefits from the funds of the said illegal housing project,” the spokesman said.
“The accused has been and is continuously obtaining illegal/illegitimate funds/benefits from said project as he obtained 40-kanal plots in his own name and in the name of his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique.”
“Accused by misusing his official position continued the expansion and marketing of illegal housing project and also obtained undue benefits in the form of sale of numbers of commercial plots worth billions of rupees which were actually not owned by M/S Paragon City. Thus the buyers have been cheated through this action of corruption and corrupt practices.
Another important suspect Qaiser Amin Butt, also former member of the Punjab Assembly, was arrested from interior Sindh when he was trying to reach Sukkur airport to flee the country. He was detained in connection with Ashiyana Housing Scheme.
Last month, Qaiser Amin Butt had appeared before a judicial magistrate to get his statement recorded under section 164(1) of the CrPC. Qaiser Butt, the Director of the Paragon City housing project, got recoded his confessional statement before Judicial Magistrate Ahmad Raza stating that he had joined the real estate business with PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique in 2002. He said that he was introduced to Nadeem Zia by Saad Rafique.
Qaiser Butt further stated that he had 50 percent shares in the business in 2006 but later Nadeem Zia became shareholder of 92 percent of the total assets. He said that he was illegally deprived of his shares despite the fact that he had 50 percent partnership in the business.
Earlier, the anti-graft agents arrested Saad and his brother Salman after the Lahore High Court dismissed their pre-arrest bail petitions in the Paragon City Housing scam.
A two-judge bench consisting of Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi and Justice Mirza Viqas Rauf heard their bail petitions. At the outset of the proceedings, Khawaja brothers along with their counsel Azam Nazir Tarar and Amjad Pervaiz appeared before the court. They were on interim bail till yesterday.
During the hearing, Khaleequz Zaman, the NAB deputy prosecutor general (DPG), informed the court that the grounds for the arrest of both the accused had been submitted in accordance with the court directions, whereas the NAB chairman had disposed of an application by the Khawaja brothers for change of investigation against them, with a direction that no step would be taken without his permission in the matter.
However, Khawaja brothers’ counsels submitted that the bureau had not provided grounds for their arrest which was mandatory. He requested the bench for provision of the same and requested the bench to adjourn the matter.
On their counsels’ arguments, the court observed that the matter could not be adjourned any longer as the chairman of the accountability watchdog had decided the application while the grounds for arrest had also been provided.
The bench said that it was not mandatory that the grounds for the arrest should be provided for the petitioners at the current stage. However, the court had sought the grounds for its perusal.
The NAB representative also submitted that as per the law, the grounds for the arrest could only be provided for the accused at the time of arrest. However, the counsel again requested for adjournment of the matter for submission of arguments.
On their request, the bench earlier expressed willingness to adjourn the matter till Dec 13 but remarked that both defence counsels would be available to argue the matter on the day.
But their counsel Azam Nazir withdrew his request and sought permission for submission of final arguments by Amjad Pervaiz, the other counsel, in the case, which was allowed by the bench.
Amjad pleaded that NAB had claimed that the Khawaja brothers were the real owners of Paragon City and they were running the society through benamidars. He further said that it was also alleged that both the brothers illegally exchanged land with the society besides receiving Rs100 million from executive builders. He also submitted that all allegations against his clients were baseless and that the bureau had failed to provide even an iota of evidence against them.
He said the accused did not have any link with the Paragon Society and that they were running advertisement and marketing companies and received Rs 100 million as marketing and advertisement fee from the Executive builders in five years. He submitted that the amount was shown in petitioners’ tax returns as well.
When asked, he also told the court that the petitioners exchanged 50-kanal land with Paragon Society and paid Rs30 million on the account of development charges. He requested the court to grant pre-arrest bail to the accused stating that the PML-N leaders were being politically victimised.
Nevertheless, the NAB official submitted the bail petitions be dismissed, saying that no political victimisation was being done against the accused. He said the inquiry was started against them when they were part of the provincial and federal governments. He argued that NAB chairman, who was a former judge and had no personal interests in the case, had authorised an inquiry against both the brothers.
The NAB official said that owner of the Green Housing Society, Shahid Butt and Qaisar Amin Butt had admitted that Khawaja brothers were real owners of the Paragon Society. He further submitted that the petitioners received various amounts from Paragon Society while submitting record of transactions. He maintained that the accused failed to justify Rs100 million transferred to their accounts. He questioned the services being provided by the brothers and the persons who hired them for the purpose.
As the bench asked, the counsel replied that Salman Rafique gave a nine-Kanal piece of land to Paragon Society in exchange for 20-kanal plots, termed it a dubious matter. The bench after hearing the arguments of both the parties dismissed their pre-arrest bail petitions and remarked that no grounds were available for grant of pre-arrest bail.
They had filed bail petitions submitting that NAB had initiated various inquiries against them. They claimed that they were completely cooperating in the investigations. They further said they had provided all the record required by the NAB interrogators. But, despite that there was a possibility that the interrogators might arrest them. They had also pleaded with the court to grant them pre-arrest bail.
After the NAB took the accused into custody following dismissal of their bail petitions, Saad Rafique said that his arrest was just mockery of justice. Addressing the PML-N supporters outside the LHC building, he said how long, the “mockery of justice and the Constitution would continue”. He said NAB was playing the role of a slave. He said no evidence had been presented in the court against them. He said “They (NAB officials) are trying to prove that we are the owners of a society.”
Meanwhile, the PML-N submitted an application in the National Assembly for the issuance of production order for Khawaja Saad Rafique so that he could attend the NA session.