ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) not to take action against the Bahria Town while its review petition was pending with the court.

However, it added that Bahria Town would have to deposit Rs5 billion within two weeks to show bona fide intent for a final resolution of the matter in the best interest of all residents and investors of the project.

In addition, the developer will have to furnish before the Supreme Court 20 per cent of the instalments received against allotments of plots, apartments and commercial buildings. The remaining 80pc of the instalments could be used by the property tycoon for development purposes.

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A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, took up the review petition against the SC’s May 4 judgement in which the top court had banned the private land developer from selling any plots or build-up apartments from the housing scheme in Karachi.

During the hearing, the chief justice expressed surprise over a media blackout of the Supreme Court’s hearing regarding Bahria Town on Tuesday, and wondered whether money had been used to influence the media in this case.

The chief justice regretted that the court had ordered that pictures of garbage dumped on the Soan River in Rawalpindi would be shared with the media, but they were never printed. The court had ordered Bahria Town chairman Malik Riaz to immediately clean the dumping site.

In its review petition, Bahria Town requested the court to suspend the apex court’s judgement, and to order NAB not to pursue corruption references against the developer.

In its May 4 judgement, the Supreme Court had ordered NAB to pick up the thread from its earlier investigation of the Bahria Town project, and take the probe to its logical end.

The bureau was asked to complete the probe in three months from the date of the announcement of the judgement. NAB was also told to move a reference before the relevant accountability court against all those found responsible for causing loss to the state exchequer.

“We know what happened in the recent Senate elections,” the chief justice observed, adding the court was aware of who was linked to whom and who was involved in wheeling and dealing.

“You should seek forgiveness for your role in making or breaking governments,” the chief justice observed, while commenting that Mr Riaz was the kind of person who would meet someone during the night and the next day the government would fall.

He said this after Mr Riaz and his counsel Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan and Khawaja Tariq Raheem appeared before the court, and complained that he had developed an entire city with modern amenities within two-and-a-half years, but in return was being portrayed as a mafia don. The chief justice, however, observed that Mr Riaz had made himself a don through his own actions.

The court also constituted a five-judge Supreme Court bench to hear the Bahria Town’s review petition after the summer vacation.

The orders came after Bahria Town submitted a proposal, saying it would deposit Rs5bn with the apex court within 15 days to show its bona fide intent for a final resolution of the current case.

Other than Mr Riaz, his spouse Bina Malik and children Ali Riaz Malik, Amber Shahzad Malik, Aasia Amair Malik and Pashmina Zain Malik also took an undertaking not to sell any of their houses till the final disposal of the case.

Bahria Town will also update and inform the Supreme Court, through its registrar, about all the development work, cost, expenses, salaries, utilities and bills of the projects, including all instalments received from investors and allottees. This will be done on a monthly basis till the matter was finally received.

The proposal adds that in the best interest of a final resolution, the Supreme Court could grant the status quo so that the business and investors’ confidence would not be affected.

The proposal said it was necessary to ensure restoration of utilities connections including electricity, gas, water, telephone etc by the concerned authorities to the residents.

During the hearing, the chief justice observed that if the court ordered the authorities to arrest Mr Riaz, the development work would immediately cease.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2018