Days after Bahria Town founder Malik Riaz made cryptic tweets about not bowing to political pressure, the National Accountability Bureau has raided the offices of Bahria Town in Rawalpindi.
While NAB officials did not make a statement, seemingly wanting to keep the raid under wraps, there was confirmation from within the bureau of what had transpired. The raid was made to find documents and evidence related to the Al Qadir Trust case, in which Malik Riaz along with his son Ali Riaz Malik, are involved along with former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi.
The raid comes at an hour of great peril for Bahria Town, when the real estate development company is facing major losses in business, failing to attract new investors, and possibly even staring down the threat of default. New Bahria Town plots that were once fetching over Rs 1 crore per kanal are now failing to find buyers at Rs 60-70 lakhs. All this while the Supreme Court wants the company to pay Rs 460 billion in fines for its illegal acquisition of land to build Bahria Town Karachi.
With the involvement of its founder in a highly politicised case and fast-changing business realities, is this the end of the road for Malik Riaz and Bahria Town? Profit uses exclusive information to detail the teetering foundations of the once mighty Bahria Town. The content in this publication is expensive to produce. But unlike other journalistic outfits, business publications have to cover the very organizations that directly give them advertisements. Hence, this large source of revenue, which is the lifeblood of other media houses, is severely compromised on account of Profit’s no-compromise policy when it comes to our reporting. No wonder, Profit has lost multiple ad deals, worth tens of millions of rupees, due to stories that held big businesses to account. Hence, for our work to continue unfettered, it must be supported by discerning readers who know the value of quality business journalism, not just for the economy but for the society as a whole.To read the full article, subscribe and support independent business journalism in Pakistan
