Case against Saad Rafique, Salman adjourned

LAHORE:An accountability court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of Paragon Housing scam after recording statements of two prosecution witnesses.

The PML-N leaders Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Khawaja Salman both accused in this case appeared before the court. On the other end, counsel of Qaiser Amin Butt submitted his Covid-19 positive report and sought his exemption which was granted.

The court recorded statements of two witnesses including Riaz Hussain and Nazir Ahmad. According to the reference details, Qaiser Amin Butt, the main accused in the Paragon Housing scam, voluntarily disclosed the facts related to the commission of offence and requested for pardon under Section 26 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (NAO 1999), which was granted by the competent authority. Khawaja Saad while talking to the media said: “Contrary to the suggestions of the whole world our prime minister opted for smart lockdown and we can see the adverse results of smart lockdown. The government is fighting with the opposition instead of fighting corona. The prime minister has only one job to say bad things about opposition.” Commenting on the statement of Dr Yasmin Rashid, Saad said that representative of people should use decent language for people. The one who calls ignorant people of Lahore is ignorant himself, Saad said.

PML-Q’s pleas: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought reply from National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on petitions by PML-Q leaders – Ch Shujaat Hussain and Ch Pervaiz Elahi, speaker of Punjab Assembly, challenging three inquiries against them.

pre-arrest bail: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday granted interim pre-arrest bail to PML-N MNA Barjees Tahir and restrained the NAB from arresting him till June 30 in an inquiry of assets beyond means. Justice Aalia Neelum, the head of the two-judge bench, asked the petitioner’s counsel as to why he sought bail.

The counsel said there was an apprehension that the NAB will arrest the petitioner on his appearance before it. The bench expressed displeasure when NAB Special Prosecutor Faisal Raza Bokhari failed to confirm whether arrest warrants against the petitioner had been issued by the authority. The bench directed the prosecutor to check the status of the arrest warrants. Later, the prosecutor told the bench that no arrest warrants had so far been issued against the petitioner. The bench allowed the petition and granted bail to the MNA till June 30.