Court orders: Flouted BoP defaulter refuses entry to evaluators

LAHORE:

A Bank of Punjab (BoP) loan defaulter of over Rs70 million, the owner of Rehman Residency, Malik Dildar Cheema did not allow evaluators to enter his hotel premises despite court orders.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza has re-issued the order that the evaluation of the hotel should be completed at the earliest and for the purpose, if necessary, the evaluators may also be replaced.

LHC has already issued orders to sell Park Plaza Hotel owned by Rehman Residency group of Malik Dildar Hussain Cheema to recover the defaulted amount of Rs70 million. Cheema had borrowed the sum in 2005, but became a defaulter in 2008. The bank filed a recovery suit of Rs677 million in LHC against Cheema.

LHC in its February 3, 2015 judgement issued decree in favour of BoP. The court on the plea of the bank appointed Iqbal A Nanji as evaluator in July 2015. However, the hotel administration continues to restrain the evaluators from entering the premises.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2016.