The National Accountability Bureau (NBA) on Thursday auctioned one Bahria Town property, received conditional bids for two others, and announced a re-auction for three others, which did not receive acceptable bids.
Bahria Town Chairman Malik Riaz, currently abroad, has been implicated in various cases, including £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case and the Bahria Town Karachi case. Owing to his ongoing refusal to appear in court, and failure to pay a court-approved plea bargain, the anti-graft watchdog is proceeding with the sale of several Bahria properties to recover the funds.
Earlier this week, the Islamabad High Court dismissed petitions filed against the sale of six Bahria Town properties in Rawalpindi and one in Islamabad. Bahria Town has approached the Supreme Court to seek a restraining order against NAB, but the matter has yet to be heard.
Ahead of Thursday’s auction, NAB had advertised six properties for sale. Of the listed properties, NAB said Rubaish Marquee was sold for Rs. 508 million, Rs. 20 million above the reserved price of Rs. 488 million. Two additional properties, Corporate Office-I and Corporate Office-II, received conditional offers of Rs. 876 million and Rs. 881.5 million, respectively, with NAB saying a final decision was pending.
The remaining three properties—Arena Cinema, reserve price of Rs. 1.1 billion; Bahria Town International Academy, reserve price of Rs. 1.07 billion; and Safari Club, reserve price of Rs. 1.2 billion—failed to fetch minimum prices and will be re-auctioned at a later date.
Ahead of the auction, Riaz posted on X seeking a “chance to return to serious dialogue and a dignified solution” out of his company’s legal woes. Claiming Bahria Town was willing to participate in any arbitration, he vowed to implement its decision, even if it required the payment of fines.