KARACHI: Chief Executive Officer Bahria Town Zain Malik has challenged reference filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in NAB Court against him. NAB also booked the then mayor Mustafa Kamal, the then district coordination officer Fazlur Rehman, the then executive district officer Iftikhar Qaimkhani, the then district officer Mumtaz Haider, the then additional DO Syed Nishat Ali and the then sub-registrar-II, Clifton Nazir Zardari in the alleged corruption of around Rs2 billion.
On 5 October 2019, PSP head Mustafa Kamal and others appeared before the court, however, investigation officer did not attend the court.
During the hearing, counsel for Zain Malik filed petition and challenged the reference and argued that his client is innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case and reference is totally illegal, malafide and arbitrary.
He further argued that his client is patient of cancer and has gone to abroad for treatment and could not attend the court until his treatment is completed, therefore, court may set aside reference and approve application for condolence. After the hearing, court issued notices to NAB prosecutor for 17 October 2019.
According to the NAB reference, land was allotted to hawkers in 1980 for single story building however, after 2003, builder purchased the said land and sold out to Bahria Town but NAB officials stated that said land was declared as state land and has not been transferred for private purposes.
