ISLAMABAD: Property tycoon Malik Riaz on Thursday got off scot-free in a reference to the illegal allotment of an amenity plot for his skyscraper Bahria Icon Tower (BIT) in Karachi after an accountability court cited lack of jurisdiction. The case was returned.
While in a separate case in which he was supposed to appear before the investigation team in connection with the settlement of 190 million pounds, Malik Riaz did not appear.
Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir, while dealing with the applications filed by the accused in the BIT reference on the basis of the amendments in the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) introduced by the present government, said that since they have no time to hear the reference. There was no jurisdiction, hence the case is remanded to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for transfer to the competent forum.
The reference was filed about three years ago and NAB named 15 accused in it.
According to the reference, the accused caused a loss of more than 100 billion rupees to the government exchequer by illegally allotting a residential plot in Bagh Ibn Qasim, Karachi and allowing the construction of a skyscraper on it. BIT is located near the beach.
The BIT reference is a branch of the fake bank accounts case.
Apart from Malik Riaz and his son Ali Riaz Malik, the other accused are Dr. Dinsha Englisharia, Liaqat Qaim Khani, Yusuf Baloch, Waqas Rifat, Ghulam Arif, Khawaja Shafiq, Abdul Subhan Memon, Jameel Baloch, Afzal Aziz, Syed Muhammad Shah, Khurram Arif, Abdullah included. Kareem Plajo and Khawaja Badi-ul-Zaman.
Tycoon skips appearances.
Malik Riaz, who was summoned by the NAB on Thursday in connection with the investigation into the 190 million pound (Rs 50 billion) settlement, was absent.
According to NAB’s letter, the owner of Bahria Town was asked to submit the complete record of purchase of 458 kanals of land in Sohawa Tehsil, the agreement through which Bahria Town donated the land to Al-Qadir Trust along with revenue documents and other property. Details are also provided. transferred by him, or any of his relatives, in favor of Al-Qadir Trust or any of its trustees;
According to unconfirmed reports, PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s wife is said to be one of the confidants. “You are advised that failure to comply with this notice may result in penal consequences under the NAO 1999,” warned the real estate tycoon.
In June, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah accused Mr Khan and his wife of taking Rs 5 billion and hundreds of kanals of land from Bahria Town to protect a real estate firm in a money laundering case.
In December 2019, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) accepted a £190m settlement offer, which included a UK property – 1 Hyde Park Place, London, W2 2LH. It was worth around 50 million pounds and all the money ended up in Malik Riaz’s frozen accounts.
The NCA has been ordered to freeze eight bank accounts worth more than £100m, which are suspected to have been obtained through overseas bribery and corruption. After a hearing in December 2018, around £20 million was frozen from the person concerned.
In March of the same year, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, had accepted an offer of 460 billion rupees from Bahria Town to implement the court decision, in which the Malir Development Authority was awarded by the Sindh government. A grant of land was made. The developer’s exchange with private land and anything done by the provincial government under the provisions of the Colonization of Government Land Act, 1912 were illegal and had no legal existence.
Later, former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife were alleged to have received billions of rupees in cash and hundreds of kanals of land from Bahria Town in return for the assistance given by Mr. Khan’s government during the NCA investigation against Malik Riaz. was given to
NAB had earlier sent notices to 21 members of Imran Khan’s cabinet. Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Murad Saeed, Parvez Khattak, Shafqat Mehmood, Shireen Mazari, Ali Haider Zaidi and Hammad Azhar were prominent among them.
