Highest in history: Zain Malik’s plea bargain approved by accountability court

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court has approved plea bargain of accused, Zain Malik, son-in-law of Malik Riaz, in six different cases pertaining to multi-billion rupees fake accounts involving former president Asif Ali Zardari, of worth Rs9.05 billion.

An official said that Director General (DG) National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Irfan Naeem Mangi informed a meeting that the Accountability Court Islamabad had approved plea bargain of accused Zain Malik, Director M/s Bahria Town Limited of Rs9,050,554,034 in six different cases investigated by the bureau.

Mangi told the meeting that was presided over by NAB Chairman former Justice Javed Iqbal that that plea bargain was one of the highest plea bargains in the history of anti-graft body, he said.

He said the meeting was also attended by Hussain Asghar, deputy chairman NAB, Syed Asghar Haider, Prosecutor General Accountability, Zahir Shah Director General (DG) operation NAB, Irfan Naeem Mangi DG NAB Rawalpindi, and other senior officials of the bureau. The official said the court approved to plea bargain application of Malik in an investigation conducted by NAB under section 18 (c) of National Accountability Ordinance (NAO),1999 and under section 24 of Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA), 2010 against the holders of public, legal persons and others involved in fake bank account scam.

The total liability determined by the NAB in this case is Rs2,129,789,550, he said.

He said the court approved plea bargain application in another investigation conducted by the anti-graft body under section 18 (c) of NAO, 1999 and under section 24 of AMLA, 2010 against the holders of public, legal persons and others involved in the fake bank account scam regarding misuse of authority in illegal allotment of/regularization of government land in favor of M/s Pink residency and other.

The total liability determined by the NAB in this case is of Rs1,563,019,920.

The official said the third investigation in which the court approved plea bargain application of Malik conducted by NAB under Section 18 (c) of NAO, 1999 and under Section 24 of AMLA, 2010, against Manzoor Kadir, DG Sindh Building Control Authority SBCA, Karachi and others.

The total liability determined by the NAB in this case is of Rs200,000,000, he said.

The official said the fourth investigation conducted by NAB under section 18 (c) of NAO, 1999 and under section 24 of AMLA, 2010 against the holders of public, legal persons and others involved in THE fake bank account scam regarding transaction of Rs8.3 billion from Bahria Town through joint account of APS Mushtaq Ahmed and Zain Malik into fake accounts.

The total liability determined by the NAB in this case is of Rs31,794,564.

He said the fifth investigation conducted by bureau under section 18 (c) of NAO,1999 and under section 24 of AMLA, 2010 against the holders of public, legal persons and others involved in fake bank account scam regarding taking Rs1.22 billion kickbacks in JV Opal-225 by Zardari group.

The total liability determined by the NAB is of Rs170,000,000 in this case.

The official said that the sixth investigation in which the court approved plea bargain application of Malik investigated by bureau under section 18 (c) of National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 and under section 24 of AMLA, 2010 against the holders of public, legal persons and others regarding transaction made from the account of M/s Bahria Town (Pvt) Limited and joint accounts of Zain Malik and Mushtaq Ahmed into fake accounts.

The total liability determined by NAB in this case is of Rs4,995,950,000.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020