From Abid Usman
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Khawaja Saad Rafique and Khawaja Ahmad Hassan traded barbs in Accountability Court (AC) in front of President of the party Shehbaz Sharif.
The incident occurred when Shehbaz Sharif came to meet party leaders inside court room. Both PML-N leaders had heated exchange and Ahmad Hassan asked Khawaja Saad to shut up. Ahmad Hassan, in an informal conversation with media persons, said that Khawaja Saad Rafique made factually incorrect statements about him.
Meanwhile, other PML-N leaders requested media persons to not report the incident. Khawaja brothers are accused of establishing a housing project by acting as benamidars in the name of Air Avenue.
The project was later converted into a new housing scheme namely Paragon City which, as per NAB, was an illegal society and not approved by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA). The bureau also accused the two brothers of receiving monetary benefits of Rs58 million and Rs39m respectively from the housing society through proxy firms under the garb of consultancy services.
NAB alleged that the Khawaja brothers had embezzled funds of the housing society for personal gains and collected heavy amounts despite clear directives from the LDA that the society was illegal.
