SC orders Malik Riaz to deposit Rs5 billion in Bahria Town case

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Supreme Court ordered Bahria Town Chairman Malik Riaz to deposit Rs5 billion as security within two weeks in a case related to housing project in Karachi. A three-judge SC bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, ordered that the peronal propertiy of Malik Riaz, his wife and his sons will be taken into official custody. The CJP also ordered Malik Riaz to deposit Rs5 billion as security Rs5 billion within two weeks. During the hearing, the chief justice directed Riaz to submit an attested audit report in the court every month. However, the chief justice in its order made it incumbent upon Bahria town Karachi to deposit twenty percent of the amount it will receive from the allottees in the apex court's account. The ramaining eighty percent should be exclusively spent on development work in Bahria town Karachi project. The court also directed the Bahria Town Chief Executive and Chairman Malik Riaz to deposit five billion rupees in the apex court's account within fifteen days. Earlier in yesterday hearing, the CJP asked Bahria Town chairman to keep in mind his afterlife as Riaz enumerated his contributions that have ‘transformed a third world country into a first world state’. “A city that was infested with Kalashnikovs has been turned into an epitome of developmental projects,” Riaz said in a reference to Karachi. Riaz appealed that the court should restrain from passing a verdict that would affect its employees, adding that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has already cleared the housing society. He also requested the court to stop NAB from further investigation until a verdict is out.