Lahore High Court has rejected Bahria Town’s plea against anti corruption court trail for the fourth time. Malik Riaz, the property tycoon and his son are facing land fraud case in anti corruption court. Bahria Town’s lawyer, Abdul Basit tried to convince the court on Tuesday 24th July, 2012 that Bahria Town’s land fraud case was transferred by anti corruption court to NAB on the orders of chairman NAB in November 2012.
According to Basit, the NAB’s order was challenged by the anti corruption establishment in Lahore High Court, which is not lawful as NAB is a federal body and anti corruption establishment is operated on a provincial level. Basit believes that dispute between the federal and provincial anti corruption bodies are to be addressed by the Supreme Court not the provincial Lahore High Court.
However, Sadaqat Ali Khan, the prosecutor general Punjab representing anti corruption establishment, said that Malik Riaz and his son are escapees and therefore they cannot approach the court. Khan further added that Bahria Town lawyers have filed same petitions under different sections of Civil Procedure Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Constitution of Pakistan.
Khan clarified that chairman NAB issued the transfer order of fraud case after the Supreme Court of Pakistan directed Malik Riaz to appear before the court. He believes that Malik Riaz wants the land fraud case to be transferred to NAB because his nexus with higher officials in NAB will get him acquitted.
After listening to the arguments of both sides, the Rawalpindi Bench of LHC rejected Bahria Town’s plea to forward the land fraud case to NAB for the fourth time.
