ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday decided to close an inquiry against PML-N leader and former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique wherein he was accused of leasing out railways’ land on lower prices.
According to sources, NAB Lahore has now found that the land was, in fact, leased out to the company with the highest bidding and that the allegation of rewarding the favourites wasn’t proved.
This decision to close the inquiry, after nearly 20 months of investigation, was taken at a regional board meeting whose recommendations have now been forwarded to the NAB chairman.
In December 2018, the anti-corruption watchdog had initiated an investigation against the PML-N stalwart over his alleged involvement in leasing out commercial land of railway at lower prices to its favourite persons.
NAB had claimed that commercial land located at Lahore, Kasur and Faisalabad was illegally leased out for 33 years in violations of law, adding that terms and conditions for the leasing agreement were also dubious.
The PML-N bigwig and his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique also faced jails after they were arrested in Paragon Housing scheme case. Later, their bail was accepted by Supreme Court, which in its ruling also came hard on NAB.
The top court had remarked that the NAB is involved in political-engineering.
