RAWALPINDI: A notification transferring a land scam case involving Bahria Town to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was challenged in Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday.
The Anti-Corruption Establishment Director-General (DG) on Thursday moved the LHC against the notification issued by NAB’s chairperson on November 21.
In his petition, the DG made NAB chairperson, additional director NAB Rawalpindi and all accused in the case, including Bahria Town Chairperson Malik Riaz Hussain and his son Ahmed Ali Riaz, respondents.
A division bench of LHC in Rawalpindi is likely to take up the petition next week.
In the notification, the NAB chaireperson had asked Director ACE Rawalpindi to transfer all record in the case to the bureau and, in a separate application, he also requested the trial court to transfer the case to the accountability court in Rawalpindi.
In the petition, the ACE maintained that two different First Information Reports were registered against the Bahria Town administration for acquired 1,401 kanals of land in Malik Pur Azizal near Rawat on fake identities and forged documents.
The ACE initiated two separate inquiries that found the accused innocent; however, a third inquiry (initiated under the supervision of the Supreme Court) found them guilty, following which they raised objections over the jurisdiction of ACE investigators, wanting NAB to take over the case.
In its petition, the ACE has asserted that NAB’s intentions are mala fide and the accused are only trying to get absolved through a friendly prosecution by NAB.
The petitioner also stated that Malik Riaz and Ali Riaz, the two main accused, obtained interim bails from the Supreme Court on November 18 for three weeks and are yet to submit their surety bonds with the trial court.
They got bail after investigators obtained warrants for their arrest, the petitioner added.
In their defence, Bahria Town’s management have stated that they are the victims in the case and not the culprits as they as they paid Rs85 million to purchase the land.
They also registered criminal case against the property dealer and the revenue staff after they learnt that the land mutations were made on fake documents.
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