ISLAMABAD: A Supreme Court judge on Friday questioned the urgency shown by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in auctioning six Bahria Town properties while six corruption references against Zain Malik are still pending before an accountability court — the forum that would decide on confiscation if the accused is found guilty.
Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, a member of the three-judge SC bench hearing an appeal against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) August 4 short order, noted that once NAB filed applications to terminate the plea bargain approved in August 2020 between Zain Malik and the bureau, the references reverted to the preliminary stage.
Following the IHC order allowing NAB to proceed with the auction, the bureau sold one property and secured conditional bids for two others, amounting to a combined Rs2.27 billion. However, the auction of the remaining three properties was halted due to the lack of qualifying bids.
The Supreme Court has now directed that Bahria Town’s appeals be heard on a regular basis by any available three-judge bench from August 13.
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In its appeal, Bahria Town argued that the IHC’s decision to dismiss its challenge to the auction was legally flawed, based on misreading and ignoring relevant facts and laws. It contended that both the IHC’s August 4 order and the accountability court’s May 23 order were issued without proper jurisdiction and in violation of Section 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which does not permit the attachment of property belonging to third parties.
The appellant further maintained that the courts failed to differentiate between the personal assets of the accused and those owned by a separate, independent legal entity.