Serious Allegations Against Bahria’s Malik Riaz & the DHA Management

According to Lt. Col. (retired) M Tariq Kamal, former director engineering DHA Islamabad,

( 0300-8542971 –  Res: 051-5152157), resident of 10-C, Tariq Lane, Tulsa Raod, Lalazar, Rawalpindi, Defence Housing Authority Islamabad (DHAI) and Bahria Town have deprived 150,000  people of their hard-earned Rs 62 billion.

All the concerned authorities have decided to ignore this blatant breach of public trust, he said.

Colonel says that DHAI has been receiving money in the name of allotment of plots in DHA Phase I Extension, DHA Phase II Extension and DHA Valley since a decade but what masses get in return is assurances and hollow promises.

Those who deposited money for plots considering it purely DHAI projects were deliberately kept in dark about the agreements between that DHAI and Bahria Town regarding land development.

Similarly, few would know that following the controversial agreements, DHAI silently transferred all the funds raised from public amounting to Rs 62 billion to the account of Bahria Town CEO Malik Riaz.

Those who got cheated include 110,000 civilians, 41,000 serving and retired military officers, jawans and families of martyrs.  Total land in question is 165,000 kanals.

Elaborating, he said that few years back DHAI and Bahria Town chief Malik Riaz inked controversial agreements according to which the later was entrusted to develop all the 175,000 kanal land owned by DHAI. Malik Riaz started development activity on 10,000 kanals. As the development process kicked off, the DHAI bosses transferred Rs 62 billion into the account of Malik Riaz without any guarantee and against the advice of DHAI legal advisors Ahmer Bilal Soofi & Co.

Those DHAI employees who objected to the illegal steps were sacked immediately.

After some time, Mr. Riaz stopped development process and started using the money of DHAI members to fulfil his personal ambitions. According to the agreements DHAI is unable to take any decision or action while Mr. Riaz continues to delay development leaving millions of people worried and insecure.

Col. (R) Tariq said that reasons for the unusual favour are still not known but it merits an investigation to ascertain as to why top officials misused authority and compromised DHAI reputation to benefit a property tycoon widely known for land grabbing.

Similarly, the applicants were deliberately kept unaware about the partnership of DHAI with Malik Riaz in the business otherwise the response of masses could have been different.

He said that Mr Riaz is not honouring agreements thus damaging GHAI reputation and causing a huge financial loss.

According to Clause 23 of Ordinance No LIII, 2009, all the serving or retired army officers serving in DHA would be considered public servants (civilians).

However, the Central and Provincial Governments, NAB, FIA and police etc. would not take any concrete action against all those who have violated all laws and procedures to deprive 150,000 families of their homes.

Mr Kamal has been criticizing NAB for not taking any action against accused in the Rs 62 billion land scam in which some 150,000 people lost their savings.

He says that NAB is not doing anything against property tycoon Malik Riaz and officers of the DHA. He said that he has provided sufficient evidence against the accused but due to some reasons NAB was reluctant to initiate probe. The investigators entrusted to find the facts seem only interested in wasting time and delaying investigation.

It may be mentioned that following the public uproar, the Chairman NAB released an official statement on June 8 promising probe into the land scam and inquiry against NAB Rawalpindi officials who filed the case without sufficient grounds.

The statement of Chairman NAB Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari proved to be a tactic to gain time which only helped Malik Riaz of Bahria Town and officials of the Defence Housing Authority Islamabad. It is a known fact that the Admiral is virtually a pawn in the hands of Malik Riaz and not a single major action, including appointments, take place in NAB with Malik’s approval.