ISLAMABAD: Former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique was presented in the Supreme Court (SC) by accountability officials on Thursday as it heard a suo motu case pertaining to financial losses incurred by the Pakistan Railways.
On April 7, the chief justice of Pakistan had taken suo motu notice of alleged corruption of Rs60 billion in Pakistan Railways. The top judge had also summoned railways minister, secretary and board members along with the audit report. A week later, the apex court had ordered the complete audit of Pakistan Railways during the case hearing.
During the case’s hearing on April 28, the SC had sought a report on the losses incurred by Pakistan Railways. The report found that losses of Pakistan Railways stand at Rs 40 billion.
In its report, the audit firm had said: “It is our view that an annual loss in excess of Rs40bn is not sustainable.”
It is pertinent to mention that Rafique is currently in the physical remand of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after he was arrested along with his brother Khawaja Salman Rafique as the Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed their application seeking pre-arrest bail in the Paragon Housing Society case.
As the apex court summoned him in a personal capacity, he was brought to the court by a team of the accountability watchdog.
