KARACHI: Pakistani real estate magnate Malik Riaz Hussain said on Tuesday his property empire was on the verge of total shutdown, blaming a widening state crackdown over what is widely believed to be his links with jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.

Hussain — one of Pakistan’s wealthiest and most influential businessmen, best known as the chairman of Bahria Town Limited — has spoken publicly for months about being pressured due to “political motives” and facing financial losses as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) opens cases against his property development projects across Pakistan. While he has not explicitly named who was pressuring him or why, media and analysts widely speculate the crackdown relates to the Al-Qadir Trust case, which involves accusations Khan and his wife, during his premiership from 2018-2022, were given land by Hussain as a bribe in exchange for illegal favors. In January, a court sentenced Khan to 14 years imprisonment in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

In January, NAB said it had kickstarted the process of seeking the extradition from the UAE of Hussain in connection with the land bribe case. Hussain has been widely known for decades for his links with political parties, the media and the civil and military establishment, and has been considered ‘untouchable’ in the past.

In a post on social media platform X on Tuesday, the property tycoon said authorities had frozen Bahria Town’s bank accounts, seized vehicles and arrested dozens of employees, which had “paralyzed” the company’s operations and brought development work to a halt.

“The situation has reached a point where we are being forced to completely shut down all Bahria Town activities across Pakistan,” Hussain said. “We apologize to the residents and stakeholders of Bahria Town.”

In January, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the government would pursue Hussain’s return from the United Arab Emirates. The same month, NAB had put out a public notice cautioning people against investing in Hussain’s new real estate venture to build luxury apartments in Dubai:

“If the general public at large invests in the stated project, their actions would be tantamount to money laundering, for which they may face criminal and legal proceedings.”

Responding to NAB on X at the time, Hussain had said “fake cases, blackmailing and greed of officers” had forced him to relocate from the country because he was not willing to be a “political pawn.”

More recently, local media has reported that Hussain may have left the UAE for an unknown location to avoid extradition proceedings.

In his X post on Tuesday, Hussain appealed to state institutions to adopt a more conciliatory approach:

“I make a final appeal from the bottom of my heart for a chance to return to serious dialogue and a dignified resolution. For this purpose, we assure you of our full participation in any arbitration process and our commitment to implementing its decision 100 percent. I also assure you that if the arbitration decision requires payment of money from our side, we will ensure its payment.”

Bahria Town, founded in the late 1990s, is one of Pakistan’s largest private employers and a major developer of luxury housing schemes across the country. Over the years, the company has been the subject of multiple investigations over illegal land acquisitions and unauthorized development but has continued to operate.

AL-QADIR TRUST CASE

In 2019, Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said Hussain had agreed to hand over 190 million pounds held in Britain to settle a UK investigation into whether the money was from the proceeds of crime.

The NCA said it had agreed to a settlement in which Hussain would hand over a property, 1 Hyde Park Place, valued at 50 million pounds, and cash frozen in British bank accounts.

The NCA had previously secured nine freezing orders covering 140 million pounds in the accounts on the grounds that the money may have been acquired illegally.

The agency said the assets would be passed to the government of Pakistan and the settlement with Hussain was “a civil matter, and does not represent a finding of guilt.”

The case made against Hussain and ex-PM Khan was that instead of putting the tycoon’s settlement money in Pakistan’s treasury, Khan’s government used the money to pay fines levied by a court against Hussain for illegal acquisition of government lands at below-market value for development in Karachi.

Hussain, who hasn’t appeared before an anti-graft agency to submit his reply to summons issued to him, has denied any wrongdoing. Khan and his wife have also pleaded innocence.