ISLAMABAD: United Kingdom (UK) courts have decided to revoke a 10-year multi-entry visit visa to real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, and his son Ahmed Ali Riaz, the Current reported.
Malik Riaz and his son Ahmed Ali Riaz had filed a judicial review against the Home Office’s decision in the court of Lady Justice Nicola Davies, Lord Justice Nugee and Lord Justice Snowden against the original decision of the Home Office in December 2019 to revoke the visas of Malik Riaz and his family members.
Their visas were revoked at the end of an investigation which saw Malik Riaz agreeing to let go of £190 million in assets and cash in exchange for saving his UK investments of approximately £300 million.
According to the report, Lady Justice Nicolas Davies, in her judgment against the appeal of Riaz and his son, wrote, “Whilst there has not been a criminal conviction against you I am satisfied on probabilities that you have been involved with corruption and financial/commercial misconduct.”
“As a result, having regard to the UK’s commitment to combat corruption and financial crime, I believe that your exclusion from the UK is conducive to the public good due to your conduct, character, and associations,” wrote Justice Nicolas.
The UK High court on Malik Riaz case cited, “The appellants [Malik Riaz and Ahmed Ali] have been involved with corruption and financial/commercial misconduct was founded on their involvement in the affairs of a company, Bahria Town. The company is wholly owned and run by the appellant’s family and is described as the largest property developer in Asia. At all relevant times, Mr Malik was the Chairman of Bahria Town, Mr Ali was the CEO.”
The investigation traces its origin to Hasan Nawaz Sharif, the son of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who allegedly sold his property, the 1 Hyde Park Place mansion to Malik Riaz’s family.
As per media reports, it was in December 2014 when Malik Riaz opened discussions with Hasan Nawaz Sharif to purchase the prized Hyde Park Place property from him which was on sale in the market for £45 million as Malik Riaz’s daughter wanted to buy it.
In mid-2015, the exchange was done and through family negotiations, Hasan agreed to sell the property to Malik Riaz at £42.5 million.
The NCA started its inquiry into the deal as soon as the deal of £42.5 million was made but there were also several other transactions of millions of Pounds including from a Dubai bank. The NCA found several large payments had been sent to London from the same bank account totalling tens of millions of pounds in the previous months.
A huge inquiry was opened during which Hasan Nawaz’s accounts were also investigated and the larger property investments of the Malik Riaz family.
Their visas were revoked at the end of an investigation which saw Malik Riaz agreeing to let go of £190 million in assets and cash in exchange for saving his UK investments of approximately £300 million.
Few days later, the NCA announced that it had reached a deal with Malik Riaz and that he has agreed to return £190 million to the state of Pakistan after failing to satisfy the clear origins of his UK investments including the purchase of the 1 Hyde Park Place mansion from Hasan Nawaz Sharif.
Riaz later used the money for the NCA payment to pay a fine imposed on Bahria Town Karachi by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
This meant that Malik Riaz did not pay anything to the government of Pakistan as instructed by NCA but instead allegedly used his influence to use the same money to pay a fine in a completely unrelated case, thus costing Pakistani taxpayers over 45 billion rupees.
