Amended NAB law: Paragon reference sent to NAB chief for.

LAHORE -- An accountability court on Wednesday returned the Paragon reference against Federal Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafiq, his brother Khwaja Salman Rafiq and others to the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for placing it before a court of competent jurisdiction following new amendments to the law.

Presiding Judge Qamaruz Zaman observed that the reference did not fall within the jurisdiction of the accountability court and [it] could not proceed with the case further as per the latest amendment to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

The judge observed that the accountability court could only hear a reference having more than 100 affected persons whereas in the case in hand there were only eight persons allegedly affected by the accused.

The judge returned the reference to the chairman of the NAB for placing it before a court of competent jurisdiction without any delay.

The Khwaja brothers had also filed acquittal applications in the reference asking the court to decide the matter on merit.

However, the judge observed that the court was not competent to decide the acquittal pleas since it had no jurisdiction to proceed further in the matter.

The NAB accused the Khwaja brothers of wrongfully gaining Rs18.2 million approximately from M/s Paragon City (pvt) Limited in their bank accounts. It said both brothers through their 'benamidars' and with the abetment of former MPA Qaiser Amin...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT