Three troubles for Bahria chief Malik Riaz
Malik Riaz. – YouTube Video grab.
ISLAMABAD, June 7: Troubles are said to come in threes. And this stands true for property tycoon Malik Riaz.
The man with the Midas touch is not just facing some mysterious health issues and a Supreme Court case about his alleged links with Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, the son of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, but his troubles appear to include an initial probe by the National Accountability Bureau in what is described by some as a land scam worth Rs62 billion.
The scam is linked to allegations levelled by a former military officer Tariq Kamal against Riaz and the Defence Housing Authority for depriving about 150,000 people of their residential plots.
When asked by Dawn if NAB’s Rawalpindi office had received any application about Bahria Town’s alleged land fraud, the bureau’s spokesman Zafar Iqbal said: “The investigations are in preliminary stages and we are verifying the claim made by the former military officer. Once the claim is verified, the investigation will be the second part of the process.”
Lt-Col (retd) Tariq Kamal has been raising a hue and cry for quite some time but observers are wondering whether the case may get a new impetus thanks to the Supreme Court’s suo motu action into allegations that Arsalan Iftikhar took bribe from Malik Riaz.
According to Col Tariq, “the Defence Housing Authority Islamabad has been receiving money in the name of allotment of plots in DHA Phase I Extension, DHA Phase II Extension and DHA Valley since 2009.”
The schemes were launched that year by the Defence Housing Authority.
“DHA-I and DHA-II are developed housing societies, but DHA Valley is yet to be developed,” Col Tariq said.
However, he said, people who had paid money to get the plots found that they were fooled because they were deliberately kept in dark by the DHA management about the agreement between DHA-I and Bahria Town over land development.
Col Tariq said that in 2009 the DHA had “transferred all the funds raised from the public, which were Rs62 billion, to the accounts of Bahria Town”.
The retired colonel has worked for the DHA as director for urban planning.
Since starting his campaign to get dues of the victims back, Col Tariq has also set up a social networking site page. Titled “Stand-up for your Right”, where the former officer narrated his version of events as well as displayed copies of the official complaint registered with a local police station and a letter sent to NAB.
Col Tariq said: “Those who got cheated include 110,000 civilians, 41,000 serving and retired military officers, jawans and families of martyrs. Total land in question is 165,000 kanals.” These figures related only to DHA Valley project.
According to this page, Malik Riaz started development activity on 10,000 kanals designated for DHA Valley in 2009.
Once this process began, the Defence Housing Authority Islamabad (DHAI) bosses transferred Rs62 billion into the account of Malik Riaz without any guarantee and “against the advice of DHAI legal advisers Ahmer Bilal Soofi & Co.” The amount was earned by the sale of all the planned plots in the valley.
Col Tariq said: “Those DHAI employees who objected to the illegal steps were sacked immediately.”
He alleged that the development of the valley stopped shortly afterwards and that Riaz used the money elsewhere for his personal benefits.
Because of the agreements, DHAI is unable to take any decision or action on the matter.
Col Tariq insists that an investigation should be carried out to pinpoint the officials who misused their authority and “compromised DHAI’s reputation to benefit a property tycoon widely known for land grabbing”. When approached by this reporter, the public relations officer of Bahria Town, Ms Nida, said: “It’s a huge amount (Rs62 billion) and it’s impossible but if you need a version I can only give it to you once I consult the relevant officials in this regard.”
What will turn out about the cases regarding Revenue Employees Cooperative Housing Society (RECHS) Rawalpindi?
What a unfortunate state of affair that DHA authorities transferred Rs.62 billion to Malik Riaz without any guarantee. People at the helm of affairs who did this should be immediately brought under the law and strict action should be taken.
May Allah make this move for total cleaning of Pakistan from corrupt people and help those who are righteous. May Allah save us from corrupt.
The People of Pakistan need to wake up and stop voting into power corrupt and incompetent leaders, the above topic is one of many which has a link to corruption. Unfortunatly whenever corruption is discussed the name of Pakistan pops up.
Maybe we are waiting for a further catastrophic warning? Apart from the earth quakes, floods, poverty, terrorism, rampant corruption, could it be the above is Wrath of the one in Heaven???
Malik Riaz Sahib many many peoples are with you. I am strongly convinced you are 100% right. Don't worry, God is with you.
sooner or later truth wil unveil itself.lets wait till then.
The Greed Syndrome: Greed is caused by insecurity, insecurity is caused by bad governance, and the bad governance is cause by greed ….
First ppp distanced itself from this scam and now gradually exposing its real intentions of defaming Honorable CJ .
PPP is bound to taste its worst defeat at the hands of Imran Khan.
The present scandal seems to malign the most respected person in Pakistan i.e., Chief Justice of Pakistan. Such efforts are will ultimately fail and the culprits whosoever may be should remember that they will very soon be taken to task.
Hey, maybe the chief justice is involved. its hard to believe the innocence of his son, the son is for sure guilty and should be punished. the only thing that remains to be seen is was he doing this with the knowledge of his father. which means the chief justice could also be asked to be a witness in this case…how interesting will that be! the media the, the bureacracy, the military, the polictical elite, and now the judiciary are on one train to rob this nation and its people. who suffers at the end the common man!
Case hasn't started yet and you are already at the corner of Malik Riaz. Not many people knows who Malik Riaz is???, but every one knows who Chief justice is and how bravely he is fighting all the corruption in this dear nation of Pakistan. God bless him
No doubt Malik Riaz has given new name and trends in property development. However, the business should be transparent. I know one victim, he was retired government employee. Their cooperative housing society was merged in Bahria Town, bahria promisted them to give them their plot. However, after repeated request he never received the plot. There are many land grabbing cases in outskirts of Pindi, the innocent villagers are looted or their land was captured forcefully. The cannot go any where…???Its time for Bahria town to repay….. or else run their business honestly and transparrently..
Entire nation supports CJ but it is also important to wait until probe has proved by panel of judges as to whether or not Dr. Arsalan factually involved in money scam. This is such a pitty as government is using all unfair means and resources to undermine a noble person CJ who is just batteling for unvealing corruption cases and striving to get country money back from swiss banks.
there should be thorough n transparent enquiry against baharia town n facts should be known about arsalan. there is some thing fishy.
tahirali
It's funny how most of the comments suggest 'envy' rather than 'disgust' ; 'how he became so rich?? bla bla'
Such is the quality of our educated class. Hence the conundrum we are in…..
a transparent inquiry with all fairness is needed to handle this sensitive issue . If the son proves gulity then the question will be raise that in a close neted society like Pakistan , can a father holding such a esteemed post remain unnoticify about the changing life style of his son for such a long period
If guilty, Arsalan should be punished. However, Malik Riaz should be the first person to be strung up for corrupting this whole system.
yeah i wish we can expect this rotee kapraa makaan government to sort this issue out………………………… I WISH
Another Zardari? Malik Riaz may be the next president of Pakistan.