Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Wednesday said that the government had found evidence that real estate tycoon Malik Riaz and Bahria Town had engaged in money laundering on a “grand” scale.
The development adds to the legal woes of the property tycoon and his real estate company, with the former being an absconder in the Al-Qadir Trust case, while the National Accountability Bureau has announced a fresh auction of six properties of Bahria Town.
Delivering a televised press statement, Tarar said: “An important development occurred a day ago in the investigation of the Bahria Town corruption case. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) carried out a successful raid in which very important documents have surfaced that are incontrovertible proof of Malik Riaz and Bahria Town’s corruption.”
He said the FIA had been conducting an ongoing investigation, with raids being carried out as well. “The documents that have surfaced reveal money laundering and corruption of a great amount by Malik Riaz and Bahria Town with the documents recovered so far showing evidence of Rs1.12 billion in money laundering,” the information minister added.
Tarar said Rawalpindi’s Safari Hospital was being used as a “front office” where cash and records were kept.
“The hospital’s ambulances were being used to transport the money and records,” the minister said. “Not only does this prove illegal transactions and hundi hawala, but the money and documents were kept in the hospital so no suspicion arises.
“When the raid took place yesterday … two people — Imran and Kaiser — who ran the hawala and hundi operations, were linked to the Bahria Town chief financial officer and the evidence has been seized by the FIA,” he added.
Tarar alleged that Bahria Town’s leadership, CFO and finance director were “running a major money laundering racket through which amounts were being sent abroad”.
“There will be more amounts besides the Rs1.12bn that will come forth,” he said, adding that the investigation was only beginning.
“The setup in the hospital is clear evidence that billions were being sent out of the country illegally to damage the economy. None of this money was sent abroad through official or banking channels but through illegal means.
“As soon as the FIA carried out the raid, Bahria Town personnel tried to burn some of the records. Some documents were burnt, but we seized the majority of the records … If there was nothing illegal in that hospital, why burn records?” Tarar asked.
The information minister said that the “corruption racket” was being investigated, adding that it involved a lot more people and the FIA had information about the locations of others involved in the scheme.
“I ask these people to turn themselves in,” Tarar said. “Malik Riaz organised all of this and sending money abroad through hundi and hawala is a crime. We will bring more evidence before the public.
“Bahria Town CFO Amir Rasheed and Bahria Town head Shahid Qureshi have been linked to Imran and Kaiser, who were running a racket. Indisputable evidence proves that they were colluding in this mega corruption scandal,” the information minister said.
Tarar maintained that those living in Bahria Town would not be affected by the government’s investigation. “We are only investigating Malik Riaz, his officials and family members involved in this racket,” he clarified.
The development comes a day after Riaz called for “dialogue and a dignified solution” amidst Bahria Town’s legal troubles.
“I would like to make a final appeal from the bottom of my heart that we be given a chance to return to serious dialogue, and a dignified solution,” he wrote in a post on X.
“For this purpose, we assure you that we will participate in any arbitration and implement its decision 100 per cent,” the property tycoon added. “On this occasion, I also assure you that if the arbitration decision requires payment of money from our side, we will ensure its payment, God willing.”
The property tycoon or Bahria Town have not yet responded to the information minister’s statements.
Bahria Town approaches SC against property auction
Separately, Bahria Town today filed an appeal against the NAB auction of its properties allowed by the Islamabad High Court.
“The impugned order … passed by honourable Islamabad High Court … as well as the order dated [March 19] passed by Accountability Court No.1 are contrary to the express provisions of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, as amended by the Second Amendment Act, 2022, which provides that ‘upon failure of an accused to comply with a plea bargain Agreement, the Agreement becomes inoperative with respect to the rights and obligations of the parties immediately’,” the petition, available with Dawn.com argued.
The petition also argued that NAB “initiated a series of baseless and vexatious legal proceedings with mala fide intent to harass, pressurise and coerce the petitioner”, calling the manner in which NAB acted “discriminatory and prejudicial”.
“The courts … failed to appreciate that [NAB] does not have any authority to auction or sell the properties of the petitioner, in view of Section 33-E (recovery of amount of fines, etc as arrears of land revenue) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 and the provisions of the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act, 1967,” the petition argued.
The petition requested that the Supreme Court grant leave to appeal the IHC’s order.