An accountability court in Lahore on Thursday extended judicial remand of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leader and Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Salman Rafique till May 2 in the Paragon Housing Society scam.
The court expressed displeasure over the NAB for not filing reference in the case.
“Where is the reference? How a person could be taken into custody for an indefinite period of time?” the court asked. To which, the NAB’s prosecutor responded that investigation into the case was being done.
Subsequently, the court asked about the date of filing the reference. However, the prosecutor said that it was not possible at the moment as the reference was forwarded for scrutiny.
Meanwhile, a heavy contingent of police was deployed around the court to prevent party workers from disrupting law and order situation during their appearance.
However, party workers scuffled with officers and security personnel outside the court.
The Khawaja brothers have been accused of embezzling nearly Rs2 billion.
Earlier on Feb 2, the court had rejected a request made by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for another extension in the physical remand of the Khawaja brothers in the case, and sent them on 14-day judicial remand which ended on Feb 16.
In all previous hearings, the defence counsel had repeatedly maintained before the court that the details of banking transactions of the last ten years had been handed over to the NAB.
However, NAB’s prosecutor had informed the court that according to records of the Paragon Housing Society an amount of Rs2 billion was transferred to sons of Salman Rafique and Nadim Zia, and 20 plots were owned by the Khawaja brothers.
On December 11, 2018, they were detained by the accountability watchdog after the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected their bail plea.
The NAB had launched an investigation into the alleged scam in November last year after a number of victims staged protests and held a press conference at the Lahore Press Club against what they termed the housing society’s fraud.