If you thought real estate drama only happens in New York or L.A., think again. Over in Pakistan, the country’s top anti-corruption agency just held a high-stakes property auction that was part tense courtroom scene, part mystery novel—and it involved one of the country’s most controversial developers, Malik Riaz of Bahria Town fame.
On Thursday, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) put six of Riaz’s properties on the block in Islamabad. But here’s where it gets interesting: journalists were invited… only to be told they couldn’t actually watch the proceedings. Instead, they sat in a separate room while the auction took place behind closed doors at NAB’s Rawalpindi/Islamabad headquarters. Afterward, they were handed a single sheet of paper with the bare-bones results.
From what we do know, one property—Rubaish Marquee—sold for 508 million Pakistani rupees (about $1.8 million), which was actually 20 million over its reserve price. Two corporate office buildings also got conditional bids of 876 million and 881.5 million rupees. According to a NAB insider speaking to Dawn, those offers came with strings attached because bidders wanted to repurpose the spaces for different businesses.
The other three properties—Arena Cinema, Bahria Town International Academy, and Safari Club—didn’t find qualified buyers. Their combined reserve prices topped 3.3 billion rupees, but without strong offers, NAB postponed their sale. There’s no word yet on when the next auction will happen.
All of this traces back to a plea bargain default in a corruption case against Zain Malik, Riaz’s son-in-law, who is also tied to the massive Bahria Town housing empire. Malik Riaz himself is reportedly overseas and steering clear of Pakistani authorities while facing multiple legal battles, including the high-profile £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case and the Bahria Town Karachi case.
This week’s sale only happened after the Islamabad High Court threw out petitions trying to block it. With that green light, NAB moved forward with the August 7 auction date—though Bahria Town has since asked Pakistan’s Supreme Court to step in and halt the process.
If nothing else, the parking lot outside NAB’s headquarters told its own story: dozens of private vehicles, likely belonging to bidders, lined up for a chance to snag pieces of the Bahria Town empire. But for now, much of the action remains behind closed doors—literally.
It’s not every day you see a property auction worth billions play out in secret, but in Pakistan’s ongoing saga with Malik Riaz, it’s just another chapter.
