Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (PM) for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan refrained from naming Malik Riaz in front of the media while giving details about £190 million property settlement case in the United Kingdom (UK).
Firdous avoided saying Malik Riaz’s name when a journalist asked her about the family who had settled with the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
The special assistant while replying to the question said, “The report contains the name of the family who made settlement”.
The UK’s crime agency had earlier agreed to a settlement worth £190 million with the family of property tycoon Malik Riaz. The statement from the agency said, “The £190 million settlement is the result of an investigation by the NCA into Malik Riaz Hussain, a Pakistani national, whose business is one of the biggest private sector employers in Pakistan”.
Meanwhile, the special assistant to the PM on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar has said, “The money has been transferred to the Supreme Court and we have already filed a request before the apex court that the money should be given to us [state of Pakistan]”.
However, Mirza Akbar did not remove the ambiguity as to how the money can be transferred to the Supreme Court, if the NCA announced in its official press release that it will be given to the state of Pakistan.
