By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau took physical control of the Bahria Icon Tower, the country’s tallest building, on Monday, marking the most significant asset seizure yet in a widening money-laundering investigation targeting real estate developer Malik Riaz Hussain.
The bureau’s move follows a July 3 order from an accountability court in Rawalpindi confirming an earlier provisional attachment of the Karachi skyscraper, according to NAB. Investigators allege the tower’s construction and the underlying land acquisition were financed through proceeds of crime, bringing the property within the scope of Pakistan’s Anti-Money Laundering Act.
NAB said it has handed custody and management of the building to local administration officials, and estimated the property’s value at approximately 100 billion rupees. The bureau did not disclose the basis for that valuation, and it could not be independently verified.
The tower had been held under M/s Galaxy Construction Pvt Ltd, which NAB investigators identified as a front company. The bureau said its inquiry found that roughly 8 billion rupees in proceeds of crime were funneled into the building’s construction in Karachi’s Clifton neighborhood.
Attempts to reach representatives of Riaz and Bahria Town for comment were not immediately successful
Widening Investigation
Monday’s seizure is the latest in a series of actions NAB has taken against Riaz since the spring. In May, the bureau froze four additional high-value Bahria Town properties on instructions from an accountability court. The following month, the court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Riaz, his son, and other associates in a separate case involving allegedly illegal land acquisition for Bahria Town Karachi, and later ordered a 15-day freeze on properties Riaz holds nationwide.
A separate tower — the Bahria Town Tower on Tariq Road — was attached earlier after NAB said the project was registered in the name of Muhammad Awais, whom investigators describe as a frontman, or “benami” holder, for Riaz and Bahria Town.
Riaz is also wanted in connection with the 190 million pound Al Qadir Trust case and is currently listed as an absconder in that matter, according to NAB.
In 2020, the bureau filed a formal reference against Riaz and other individuals over the allotment of the land on which the Bahria Icon Tower now stands.
NAB, in a statement, described the tower’s seizure as part of its broader effort to trace and recover assets connected to money laundering, and said it remains committed to pursuing financial investigations against proceeds of crime “in accordance with the law.”
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