By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad court on Saturday convicted a retired army colonel who served as a top executive at Bahria Town, one of the country’s largest property developers, of laundering approximately Rs 1.6 billion, sentencing him to 10 years in prison and ordering the confiscation of assets obtained through the crime.
The conviction highlights the government’s efforts to crack down on illicit financial flows linked to one of the country’s most prominent real estate developers, once considered untouchable because of its political clout.
Additional Sessions Judge (West) Nasruminallah Baloch found Col (retd) Khalil-ur-Rehman, vice chief executive of Bahria Town, guilty of offences under sections 3 and 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010.The Federal Investigation Agency’s Anti-Money Laundering Circle had registered the case last year. The court sentenced Rehman to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25 million. Should he fail to pay the fine, he will face an additional month of simple imprisonment. The judge also ordered the forfeiture of any properties or assets acquired through the laundered funds.
The court determined that the funds constituted “proceeds of crime,” laundered through systematic layering of financial transactions and channelling money through third parties. The judge cited the magnitude of the amount, the deliberate concealment, and the economic harm to society as key factors in the sentencing.
Investigators alleged that funds associated with Bahria Town had been transferred abroad using the informal hawala and hundi systems since 2007. The case, registered as FIR No. 19/25 in August 2025, was brought to trial with documentary evidence and testimony from 12 witnesses. The proceedings concluded in under six months — the first such money-laundering case handled by the FIA’s Islamabad Circle to reach a verdict.
The pronouncement of the judgment followed a procedural dispute. Defence lawyers filed an application to exempt Rehman from personal attendance. The judge rejected the plea, pointing out that the hearing had already been adjourned once at the defence’s request for this very purpose. With the application denied and the accused not present, the court delivered the verdict anyway.
A contingent of defence counsel, including Bahadur Ali Khan, Barrister Mansoor Azam, and Rana Muhammad Usman, was present in court along with the FIA prosecution team. The court issued a warrant directing the superintendent of Rawalpindi Central Jail to receive Rehman once he is arrested and produced by police.
The FIA said in a statement that the conviction reinforces its commitment to pursuing money-laundering and financial fraud cases without favouritism. The case adds to the mounting legal challenges confronting Bahria Town and its founder, Malik Riaz. Riaz has been an absconder in the separate Al-Qadir Trust case since January 2024. That investigation alleged that former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife received billions of rupees and hundreds of kanals of land from the company in connection with the legalization of Rs 50 billion that British authorities had returned to Pakistan during the previous PTI-led government.
Bahria Town properties in Rawalpindi and Islamabad faced potential auctions last August, prompting Riaz to call for dialogue and a “dignified solution.” In the current money-laundering matter, Riaz, his son Ali Riaz, Shahid Qureshi, and others have already been declared proclaimed offenders by the court.
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