The federal cabinet on Thursday decided to block the passports of all accused declared absconders in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, including Bahria Town owner Malik Riaz.
Earlier this month, an accountability court found both former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra, guilty of corrupt practices in the case. Khan was sentenced to 14 years’ rigorous punishment, while Bushra was sentenced to 7 years in jail. Subsequently, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) announced it was seeking the extradition of co-accused Riaz and his son from the U.A.E., where they have been residing since the ouster of Khan in a vote of no-confidence in 2022.
In addition to Riaz, the government has decided to block the passports of his son Ali Riaz, former accountability adviser Shahzad Akbar and Farhat Shahzadi, a close friend of Bushra who is accused of operating as her “front-man.”
While the father and son property developers are in the U.A.E, Akbar is currently residing in the U.K. The present whereabouts of Shahzadi are unclear, as she reportedly left for Dubai on April 5, 2022 but has not made any public appearances since then.
According to local media, the cabinet’s decision follows a request of the Interior Ministry, which was urged by NAB to restrict the suspects’ travel to facilitate their extradition to Pakistan.