KARACHI: Pakistan’s top court on Friday turned down a plea by real estate giant, Bahria Town, that sought to stay auction of its commercial properties in an ongoing graft case that has caught widespread public attention.
The development came a day after Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said it had auctioned three out of six properties, owned by Bahria Town and its founder Malik Riaz Hussain, saying the move was part of its efforts to recover “defrauded funds” from a court-approved plea bargain tied to a £190 million settlement with Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
The auction was held after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) this week dismissed a petition by the firm against the planned auction of its properties by the anti-corruption watchdog. The six properties up for auction include one in Islamabad and five in Rawalpindi.
NAB said the sale aims to recover unpaid amounts from the settlement deal involving Hussain, the founder of Bahria Town who has spoken publicly for months about being pressured due to “political motives” and facing financial losses as NAB opens cases against his property development projects across Pakistan.
“The decision on the stay order will not be one-sided. We will decide after hearing the other side,” Justice Aminuddin Khan, who headed a three-member Supreme Court bench, said during a hearing in Islamabad on Friday.
