Tuesday the bail petition of Liaquat Qaimkhani, former parks director general in Karachi. The court has summoned a report on his assets and adjourned the hearing till Monday. During the hearing, Chief Justice Athar Minallah asked NAB why they have arrested the former KMC officials as a reference has already been filed against him. The NAB investigating officer said that they are looking into his assets and Qaimkhani isn’t cooperating with them. The judge then asked about the value of his assets. The NAB prosecutor said that two kilogrammes of gold was found in Qaimkhani’s house. He claimed that Qaimkhani has been evading tax too. The former KMC official also owns 28 plots, adding that some plots are in daughter’s name while other in his nephew’s name. Qaimkhani’s lawyer, on the other hand, argued that he has been arrested over charges of illegal allotment of Bagh Ibne-Qasim land to real estate giant Bahria Town for its Icon Tower in Karachi. He even said that Qaimkhani had retired when the land was occupied. NAB tried to arrest him in the assets case but they didn’t get the permission for it, the lawyer told the court. On September 19, 2019 NAB raided his house and found a treasure trove of 243 valuable items. The officials seized eight luxury vehicles, including Mercedes and Audi A4 cars, a Range Rover jeep, Toyota’s Surf, Land Cruiser and Fortuner SUVs. They found 20 files of different plots in Karachi’s Mehran Town.—INP
