Swindler to return millions to his victims

The SC ordered Malik Sadiq to pay Rs 160m to 23 people who had suffered losses in the Abu Dhabi Towers scam.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court ordered Malik Sadiq, owner of Abu Dhabi Towers, to pay Rs 160 million to 23 people who had suffered losses in the September 2, 2010 Abu Dhabi Towers scam.

A two-member bench of the Supreme Court also directed the Sadiq family to surrender their passports to the registrar. Following the courts orders, Malik Sadiq’s name was put on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The Abu Dhabi Towers scam surfaced in 2005 when people found that the flats they had bought had been resold to multiple buyers. The case gained attention earlier this month when Sadiq’s wife claimed that her husband had been ‘picked up’ by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials on August 17 this year during a raid on their house in E-7. Accusing NAB of keeping him locked without physical remand, the wife lodged a complaint at the Kohsar police station.

The Supreme Court took suo moto notice of the incident but NAB denied the allegation.

In response to the apex court’s orders, SSP Islamabad Tahir Alam Khan and NAB officials appeared before the court and stated that Sadiq was not in the custody of NAB or any other law enforcement agency. They maintained that Sadiq had resisted his arrest during the raid on his house on August 17. The agency had been unable to search Sadiq’s residence as they could not acquire a search warrant.

“Sadiq’s wife misdirected the authorities and the court by claiming that we arrested her husband,” a NAB official said.

Sadiq, however, appeared before the court on Friday and claimed that contrary to his wife’s statement, he had not been detained by NAB and had gone to Lahore to escape his possible arrest.

He said that he had decided to appear before the court after finding out through newspapers that the case had been taken up by the Supreme Court.

He wanted to return the money to the victims, he maintained. The court ordered NAB to refrain from “bothering” Sadiq during the time he was given to return the money.  However, if he failed to meet the deadline, he would be arrested and tried in the court.

Earlier, Malik Sadiq had managed to escape to Saudi Arabia in 2006 despite his name being on the ECL after criminal cases were registered against him on the complaints of his victims. The court also asked NAB to free the accountant and manager of Abu Dhabi towers, Ghulam Qasim, as he was not directly involved in the scam. Two agents who were directly involved in the scam are yet to be arrested.

However, Sadiq’s son Malik Rizwan Sadiq is already in jail as he was arrested by NAB in June this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2010.