[image: Malik Riaz’s family takes on Pakistani government for exposing UKdeal in money laundering case]
ISLAMABAD – Pakistani real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain and his familyhave issued a clarification while expressing concerns over releasing thedetails of a confidential agreement reached between the Britain’s NationalCrime Agency (NCA) and the government of Pakistan regarding recovery ofassets worth £190 million from the business family in London in a moneylaundering case.
Hussain, who is the owner Asia’s largest private property project BahriaTown, reached a settlement with the UK authorities in 2019 when more than£190m of assets, including a £50m mansion overlooking Hyde Park in London,had been seized.
At that time, NCA in a statement said that Malik Riaz Hussain had agreed tothe multimillion-pound settlement that did “not represent a finding ofguilt”.
The £190 million settlement is the result of an investigation by the NCAinto Malik Riaz Hussain, a Pakistani national, whose business is one of thebiggest private sector employers in Pakistan.— National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) December 3, 2019link
In response to federal minister’s Tuesday presser, UK-based law firmKingsley Napley LLP has issued a statement on behalf the Riaz family,saying details of a confidential agreement were released in a pressconference.
The statement said: “The confidential agreement, dated Nov 6, 2019,provided for two key outcomes: (i) for the NCA to withdraw unconditionallycertain civil freezing orders which had been obtained by the NCA over anumber of UK bank accounts following a letter from the government ofPakistan to the NCA which made reference to the acquisition in 2007 of theproperty by Mr Hassan Nawaz, the son of former prime minister of PakistanNawaz Sharif, and its subsequent sale in 2016 to Malik Riaz’s son; (ii) atthe sole direction of the account holders, the contents of those bankaccounts to be paid against an existing civil debt owed by Malik Riaz’sbusiness, Bahria Town (Private) Limited. The confidential agreement alsomade provision for the sale of 1, Hyde Park Place and for the proceeds tobe paid against the same civil debt.”
Before entering the confidential agreement, the NCA sought and obtained theapproval of the Pakistani government. The account freezing orders weredischarged unconditionally by order of the English court.
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“The agreement included a confidentiality clause. For its part, the NCA wasrequired to procure the Government of Pakistan to execute a deed ofconfidentiality. The NCA fulfilled its part of the bargain and such a deedwas executed by the Government of Pakistan on 6 November 2019 in the formof an undertaking,” read the statement.
The business family considers it a matter of considerable regret that thePakistani government has breached its own undertaking which it gave to boththe NCA and the counter parties.
It also cited NCA’s statement as “[t]he settlement is a civil matter anddoes not represent a finding of guilt”.
The confidential agreement was entered in the public interest, it added.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet announced toform a committee to probe the alleged involvement of former premier ImranKhan and his wife Bushra Bibi in obtaining billions of rupees from realestate tycoon for support in the money laundering case.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had accused Mr Khan and his wife ofaccepting Rs5bn and hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town in return forpromise to protect the family in money laundering case.
