Property tycoon Malik Riaz on Tuesday called for “dialogue and a dignified solution” amidst Bahria Town’s legal troubles.

His appeal comes as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its verdict on petitions against the proposed auction of Bahria Town properties. The assets were attached in connection with a plea bargain agreement reached in the £190 million case. The development adds on to the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) previous actions against Riaz, who owns Bahria Town and is an absconder in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

NAB had said last month that the tycoon and his son Ali Riaz had entered into a plea bargain in the 190 million pounds case, but failed to pay the agreed amount. As a result, NAB had sought details of several properties, which were to be auctioned to recover the amount under Sec­tion 33E of NAB Ordinance, 1999.

In 2019, the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom had agreed to a settlement worth £190 million with Riaz’s family. Earlier that year, the Supreme Court had accepted Riaz’s offer of Rs460 billion as settlement dues by his Bahria Town after it was found to have illegally acquired thousands of acres of land on Karachi’s outskirts in district Malir. Hours after the NCA verdict, Riaz had tweeted that the recovered amount would go to the Supreme Court against the fine worth Rs460bn. Subsequently, the money was transferred to the Supreme Court’s accounts, instead of the government’s account.

On October 20, 2023, the Supreme Court had noted that “only Rs60.72bn out of Rs460bn was paid. Even out of this payment, Bahria Town paid only Rs24.26bn”.

In a post on X today, Riaz said: “I would like to make a final appeal from the bottom of my heart that we be given a chance to return to serious dialogue, and a dignified solution.

“For this purpose, we assure you that we will participate in any arbitration and implement its decision 100 per cent,” the property tycoon added. “On this occasion, I also assure you that if the arbitration decision requires payment of money from our side, we will ensure its payment, God willing.”

Riaz said that he had confidence that the institutions of Pakistan would act “with justice, wisdom, and prudence, and they will play a positive role in leading us out of this difficult juncture”.

Riaz also said that Bahria Town’s operations across the country had been severely paralysed.

“Our cash flow has been completely destroyed, it has become impossible to provide daily services, we are unable to pay the salaries of our tens of thousands of staff, and the situation has reached a point where we are being forced to completely shut down all Bahria Town activities across Pakistan,” Riaz said.

However, he added, “We are certainly one step behind this last step, but the situation on the ground is getting worse by the minute.”

Last month, the IHC issued notices to respondents on a petition of NAB seeking to vacate the stay order on its move to auction six properties of Bahria Town in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

In June, NAB ordered the freezing of over 450 immovable properties owned by various individuals named in the Bahria Town Karachi land grab case.

In the same month, the IHC had issued a stay order halting the NAB’s planned auction of Bahria Town’s properties. The auction was scheduled to be held the same day, i.e. June 12.