ISLAMABAD: Bahria Town on Wednesday challenged a short order of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) which allowed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to proceed with the auction of properties linked to a plea bargain involving property tycoon Zain Malik.

Moved by senior counsel Farooq H.

Naek on behalf of Bahria Town`s accounts and finance manager Adnan Khurshied Babar, the petition pleaded before the Supreme Court that NAB, by auctioning the properties, was acting in a discriminatory and arbitrary manner in violation of Articles 4, 10A, 23 and 24 of the Constitution.

It argued that NAB lacked the legal authority to unilaterally auction or dispose of mortgaged properties, owned by a third-party surety, without initiating separate proceedings or obtaining adjudication from a competent forum.

Bahria Town, it maintained, was not a party to the plea bargain.

The respondents named in the appeal include Islamabad`s accountability court, NAB chairman, Rawalpindi region director general of the bureau, and the official in charge of its recovery and disbursement management cell.

Zain Malik, son-in-law of Bahria Town chairman Malik Riaz who is facing three NAB references, had pledged Bahria Town properties as collateralunder a plea bargain agreement signed under Section 25(b) of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

The agreement was approved by the accountability court in August 2020.

The attached properties include Media House Phase-I Rawalpindi, agricultural land at Mouza Mohra Noor, Bahria Town Corporate Offices I & II, Rubaish Marquee, Arena Cinema, Bahria Town International Academy, and Safari Club.

The petition argued that the IHC`s order dismissing Bahria Town`s plea was flawed, based on misreading of the record, and legally unsound.

It further stated that both the IHC and the accountability court had acted beyond their jurisdictions, thus violating Section 88 of the CrPC, which did not permit attachment of propertiesowned by third parties not accused or proclaimed offenders.

`Evidence unearthed` In a separate statement on Wednesday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed the government had found evidence that the controversial tycoon and his real estate empire had engaged in money laundering on a `grand` scale.

He said an FIA inquiry had yielded very important documents which were `incontrovertible proof of Malik Riaz and Bahria Town`s corruption`.

He claimed that evidence unearthed so far revealed money laundering to the tune of Rs1.12 billion, alleging that the Safari Hospital in Rawalpindi was used as a front.