LAHORE: An accountability court on Monday allowed an application by the camp jail superintendent for shifting former railways minister Khwaja Saad Rafique to the Services Hospital for a minor throat surgery.

The superintendent had submitted before the court that Mr Rafique, facing trial in Paragon City scam, had developed a throat disease. He said the under-trial prisoner required a surgery which was not possible at the jail’s hospital. He sought permission from the court to shift the former minister to the Services Hospital for treatment. The court allowed the application.

Saad Rafique and his younger brother, former provincial minister Khwaja Salman Rafique, were arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Dec 11, 2018 after they withdrew their pre-arrest bail petitions from the LHC. They remained in the bureau’s custody till Feb 2, 2019 before the trial court sent them to jail on judicial remand.

They again moved the LHC for post-arrest bail, which was denied. Their bail petitions are pending before the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2020