The Paragon City case is one of the NAB’s first references filed using a newly laid 10-month rule to complete investigation and file official complaint (reference).
PKONWEB Report — The country’s anti-graft watchdog NAB (National Accountability Bureau) has filed a reference against five individuals for their alleged involvement in a scam pertaining to Lahore-based Paragon Housing Society.
The accused include Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) politician and former lawmaker Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique.
In the reference, filed on Friday in an accountability court in Lahore, NAB alleged that the accused committed a fraud, causing Rs590 million loss to the public.
The reference also said that one of the accused, Qaiser Amin Butt, voluntarily disclosed the facts and circumstances relating to the commission of offences and requested for grant of pardon that was tendered by NAB.
The Paragon City, launched in 2005, was illegal and never approved by the Lahore Development Authority, yet it continued to sell plots – sometimes a single piece of land to more than one buyer, NAB alleges. It says the bureau has evidences that the Paragon was being run by Rafique, behind the scenes.
The Paragon City case is one of the NAB’s first references filed using a newly laid 10-month rule to complete investigation and file official complaint (reference).
The judicial remand of Saad Rafique and his brother has been extended till June 13 in the Paragon City scam.
Last year in November, the anti-graft watchdog decided to pursue mega corruption cases only and transfer low-magnitude cases to other anti-corruption departments in order to ensure disposal of the cases within the stipulated time frame.
The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by NAB Chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal.
Cases of all nature be disposed within 10 month’s prescribed time frame, said the NAB chairman.
The participants were told that NAB had deposited a record Rs2.58 billion in the national exchequer after recovering it from the corrupt.
