LAHORE: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday initiated a probe into award of ‘precious’ railway land in Lahore on lease by Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique and also sought explanation from him in the ‘dubious’ land deal with the Paragon Housing Society.

NAB’s Lahore chapter has sought an explanation from Mr Rafique and his younger brother Khwaja Salman Rafiq (Punjab health minister) regarding “exchange of their 50-kanal piece of land with ‘developed plots’ measuring 40 kanal in Paragon Housing Society through an agreement.

“NAB has asked the Khwaja brothers to tell it a ‘formula’ under which they got 40 kanal of developed plots (in Paragon) in exchange of a piece of raw land (in 2016),” a source told Dawn.

Terming the deal ‘dubious’ as such a practice is not a routine in land exchange matters, the NAB has not yet received a reply from the Khwaja brothers.

Their spokesman told Dawn that the land exchange in question had been made legally as it had already been clarified by the railways minister in his presser. When asked whether the ministers used their influence/connection to enter into this land deal beneficial to them, the spokesman said: “This is not the case as they (ministers) are paying development charges of the land (they got in exchange in Paragon).”

He further said a reply in this regard had been submitted to the NAB.

An official told Dawn that the Khwaja brothers’ claim of getting 40-kanal developed plots in return of the 50 kanal raised doubts over the land deal.

“It is very simple that the land they got in exchange is more costly than 50-kanal raw land,” he said, adding that it was one of the ‘rare’ cases in the country.

“Usually a land owner gets 30 to 33pc developed plots/land of the total raw land he surrenders to the public or private sector developers such as Defence Housing Authority or Lahore Development Authority. The same happens in cooperative housing schemes,” he said.

The NAB believes that the Khwaja brothers should not get more than 16 kanal if this deal would have been made on existing market practices.

Meanwhile, the NAB Lahore would launch an investigation against Saad Rafique for the purchase of machinery for the 4,500HP locomotives and repair of the rail track and awarding a ‘precious’ land of railway in Lahore on lease.

Saad Rafique says he served the railways with dedication and honesty. “I fought against corruption and nepotism in the railways throughout my tenure. I am hurt by such allegations,” he says.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2018