RAWALPINDI:
The Lahore High Court on Monday summoned a real estate tycoon and his son to appear in the court to defend themselves in a land scam case on November 23.
Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the LHC Rawalpindi bench summoned Bahria Town Chairman Malik Riaz Hussain and his son Ahmed Ali Riaz to appear in the court.
The investigation officer in the case, Amjad Shahzad, maintained that the two accused had been absconding to avoid arrest.
Barrister Gohar Ali, representing the two petitioners, sought adjournment of the case owing to the absence of their counsel Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan. But the investigation officer pleaded that more time could not be given to the accused as their arrest warrants have been obtained and they have not obtained a pre-arrest bail.
Endorsing the earlier stance of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Punjab’s Additional Advocate General Sadaqat Ali Khan, the probe officer described the accused “fugitives in the eye of the law”.
The real estate tycoon and his son have filed a petition with the LHC Rawalpindi bench seeking annulment of corruption charges against them. The report alleges that the Bahria Town administration acquired 1,401 kanals of land in Rawat on fake identities and forged documents.
The petitioners, however, maintained that they had been cleared by the ACE officials in a number of inquiries regarding the land purchase in 2008 and 2009, and are being wrongly implicated in the case.
The petitioners maintained they had informed the investigators that they had never been directly involved in the land purchase, as it was undertaken by the employees of the housing society through different property dealers. They claimed to have approached the Rawat police to register criminal cases against the property dealers and revenue officials when they learnt that the land mutations were made fraudulently.
They said they paid Rs85 million for the land but they have been deprived of their money through fraud and forgery.
Meanwhile, the investigators claimed that they have enough evidence and witnesses to prove that the owners of the private housing society were involved in the land scam.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 15th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ