An accountability court in Karachi has issued non-bailable arrest warrantsfor Zain Malik, the son-in-law of real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, in a caserelated to the illegal merger of commercial land to Bahria Town.
Former Karachi mayor, Syed Mustafa Kamal, former Karachi districtcoordination officer Fazlur Rehman, former executive district officerIftikhar Qaimkhani are also named in the case.
During the course of the hearing, Kamal and other accused appeared beforethe court on bail, but Malik was absent, which irked the accountabilitycourt-III judge.
Zain Malik’s counsel informed the court that his client is in the UK fortreatment and filed a request to record his statement from the UK.
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The judge, however, dismissed the application and issued his non-bailablewarrants. He ordered the investigation officer to produce Malik before thecourt on the next date of hearing.
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The indictment of Kamal, Rehman, and Qaimkhani was delayed until October 9.
In June 2019, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed areference against the former mayor Mustafa Kamal and officials at thefollowing posts at the time including, DCO Rehman, EDO Qaimkhani, districtofficer Mumtaz Haider, additional DO Syed Nishat Ali, and Cliftonsub-registrar-II Nazir Zardari.
The reference also mentioned five builders — Zain Malik, Mohammad Dawood,Mohammad Yaqoob, Mohammad Irfan, and Mohammad Rafiq — all associated withM/s DJ Builders and Developers.
It maintained that Zain Malik and others associated with M/s DJ Builderspurchased 102 out of 198 stalls in Clifton meant for dislocated hawkerswith the connivance of former Karachi mayor and other officials.
