NAB takes possession of Bahria Icon Tower in Karachi

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau took physical possession of Karachi’s Bahria Icon Tower on Monday after an accountability court in Rawalpindi confirmed the property’s provisional attachment in an anti-money laundering investigation linked to property tycoon Malik Riaz.

The inquiry was conducted against M/s Galaxy Construction Private Limited and others. The bureau said its investigation found that both the construction of the tower and the acquisition of the land beneath it were financed through proceeds of crime, making the asset a property involved in money laundering.

NAB said the tower was provisionally attached under Section 8 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, which deals with attachment of property involved in money laundering. After what the bureau described as the collection of further corroborative material establishing the money laundering offence and the property’s connection with proceeds of crime, an application was moved before the Rawalpindi accountability court for confirmation of the attachment. The court, in an order dated July 3, 2026, upheld the attachment.

Custody transferred after court order

Following the court order, NAB on Monday took possession of the high-rise and transferred its custody and management to the local administration in line with the law, sources said. The tower, located in Karachi’s Clifton area and regarded as Pakistan’s tallest building, has been estimated by NAB sources to be worth around Rs100 billion.

The same sources said the bureau’s investigation found that Rs8bn in alleged crime proceeds had been laundered for the construction of the project. They added that the property was being held through a front company, M/s Galaxy Construction Pvt Ltd.

NAB sources described the attachment and takeover of the building as a major step in the bureau’s effort to trace, restrain and recover assets allegedly linked to money laundering and proceeds of crime. They also said the bureau remained committed to pursuing money laundering investigations, tracing illicit assets and ensuring that proceeds of crime are restrained, confiscated and recovered under the law.

Earlier proceedings and related cases

The move follows a series of actions in cases involving Bahria Town and Malik Riaz. In June, an accountability court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Malik Riaz, his son and others in the Bahria Town Karachi land grab case. Later the same month, the court also ordered the freezing of properties across the country for 15 days.

In May, NAB froze four more high-value Bahria Town properties on the directions of an accountability court. Riaz is an absconder in the £190m Al Qadir Trust case.

Separately, NAB also attached Bahria Town Tower on Karachi’s Tariq Road after it was established that the project was held in the name of Muhammad Awais, described as a benami frontman for Malik Riaz Hussain and M/s Bahria Town.

In 2020, the bureau filed a reference against Malik Riaz and others over the alleged illegal allotment of the plot on which Bahria Icon Tower was built.