UK agency asked questions about this from Hassan Nawaz, he cleared his name by providing sufficient evidence.
Ali Riaz paid £42 million to Hassan Nawaz for a property in London in 2016, but PTI fan club will dispute all £190 million "dirty money".
This Houdini act meant that Malik Riaz did not pay anything to the government of Pakistan as instructed by NCA but instead used his influence to use the same money to pay a fine in a completely unrelated case, thus costing Pakistani taxpayers over 45 billion rupees.
In November, videos surfaced of PM Imran Khan’s Accountability Advisor Shahzad Akbar meeting Malik Riaz at his £45 million flat in Lancaster Gate (still owned by Malik Riaz) and at a hotel. They met each other daily for about a week, according to an investigative
report in the British media. A few days later the
NCA announced that it had reached a deal with Malik Riaz Hussain and that he has agreed to return £190 million to the state of Pakistan after failing to satisfy the clear origins of his UK investments including the purchase of the 1 Hyde Park Place mansion from Hasan Nawaz Sharif.
View attachment 1017063
Malik Riaz Hussain is back in news as the UK court’s decision of the immigration bench rejected Malik Riaz’s appeal which means that the billionaire property tycoon cannot enter the United Kingdom. Not many people are aware of the full story of what happened.
It was in December 2014 when Malik Riaz opened discussions with Hasan Nawaz Sharif to purchase the prized Hyde Park Place property from him which was on sale in the market for £45 million as Malik Riaz’s daughter wanted to buy it.
In mid-2015, the exchange was done and through family negotiations, Hasan agreed to sell the property to Malik Riaz at £42.5 million.
The NCA started its inquiry into the deal as soon as the deal of £42.5 million was made but there were also several other transactions of millions of Pounds including from a Dubai bank. The NCA found several large payments had been sent to London from the same bank account totalling tens of millions of pounds in the previous months.
A huge inquiry was opened during which Hasan Nawaz’s accounts were also investigated and the larger property investments of the Malik Riaz family.
According to papers, Hasan Nawaz’s accountants paid £26 million to the bank in repayment of debt and kept the remaining amount. The amount into his account was not directly from Malik Riaz but came through his English solicitor’s account after due diligence was made in the 1 Hyde Park Place sale.
Hasan Nawaz’s original investment in the property through a bank loan was also investigated but nothing illegal or suspicious was found.
At the same time, Malik Riaz was told that all his assets in the UK were under investigation and that he should provide the clear origins of the money. Malik Riaz, according to legal sources, was unable to provide a legitimate source for a large part of the money he sent from Dubai to the UK but his lawyers put a strong challenge to save his large property portfolio.
Malik Riaz’s lawyers were unable to satisfy the investigators about the transfers made from Dubai to the UK accounts and found that large sums were deposited in Dubai and UK bank accounts without explanation of their legal origins or proper trail.
While the investigation was in the initial phase, the Dubai bank shut down Malik Riaz’s account and he brought all his money to the UK accounts, according to a source who has worked with Malik Riaz. This created further issues for Malik Riaz once the money had landed in the UK.
When things became difficult for him, Malik Riaz sought the help of the most influential people in Pakistan including PM Imran Khan and his advisor Shahzad Akbar, who leads the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) and was allegedly tasked to act on behalf of the state of Pakistan to facilitate Malik Riaz.
Just a week after Malik Riaz transferred a big piece of land and one billion in accounts of a trust owned by Imran Khan his wife Bushra and her close friend Fahat Shehzadi.