RAWALPINDI, Nov 23: Catching the provincial Anti-Corruption Establishment (Punjab) unawares, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on November 21 issued a notification announcing the transfer of a land fraud case, which implicates property tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain and his son Ali Malik, from the provincial authority to its jurisdiction.

Following that on Wednesday, Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel for the accused, withdrew the petition filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench for quashing of criminal proceeding against the tycoon, his son and five others.

The withdrawal of the case has been opposed by the counsel of Punjab government present in the court saying it would provide easy exit to the property tycoon from the alleged fraud case involving the purchase of 1,401 kanals of land.

Three inquiries held earlier had cleared Hussain but a fourth inquiry in 2011 on the directive of the Supreme Court of Pakistan found him and his son benefitting from the said land transfer.

On October 26, the Anti-Corruption Court, Rawalpindi issued arrest warrants for Hussain, his son Ali Riaz and five accomplices.

On November 4, Hussain approached the LHC and filed a petition claiming that they were not the beneficiaries and that they were the victims as the fraud was committed against them.

On November 14, the LHC once again directed all the accused to appear before the court in person on November 23.

However, two days before the hearing, NAB authorities issued a notification for the transfer of the case. The NAB notification addressed to ACE was issued with the approval of DG NAB and said: “The competent authority has directed to transfer the case from ACE to NAB, and the relevant record of the case be handed over to the officers of NAB.”

Yesterday, Justice Ijaz Ahmed though resumed hearing of the petition even though Aitzaz Ahsan, counsel for Malik Riaz Hussain and co, told the court that after the NAB notification he is withdrawing the petition.

On part of the Punjab government, Sadaqat Ali Khan, the additional advocate general (AAG), opposed the withdrawal of the petition and told the court that since the accused were fugitives, they could not be considered for any concession unless they surrendered themselves in the court as the trial court has issued their arrest warrants.

Furthermore, the AAG told the court that the notification was issued in violation of the court order.

In response to a question by Dawn, Sadaqat Ali Khan said that the ACE will file a petition in the LHC against the transfer of the case.

“Under the law, ACE and NAB have separate jurisdictions and NAB cannot issue such a notification without solid grounds. The notification did not mention any tangible reason for transfer of case,” he contended.

He added: “The Supreme Court of Pakistan in the same case accepted the bail applications of Hussain and his son and directed them to deposit a surety of Rs. 50,000 each in the trial court but instead of complying with the court orders, they withdrew their petition and got their case transferred to NAB.”