Latest news with #Riaz
Business Recorder
08-08-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Apex court rejects stay order plea on auction of Bahria Town properties
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking a stay order on the auction of properties belonging to Pakistan's leading real estate corporation. A three-member bench headed by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan heard the petition concerning the auction of Bahria Town properties by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The NAB on Thursday initiated the process of transferring proceeds from the auction for properties linked to real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, as part of efforts to recover funds from a court-approved 2019 plea bargain, Business Recorder reported. According to an official statement, the NAB conducted a public auction for six commercial properties associated with Malik Riaz and Bahria Town. The move is aimed at recovering unpaid amounts connected to the £190 million settlement case involving Riaz, the founder of Bahria Town. The six properties up for auction include one in Islamabad and five in Rawalpindi. The NAB said the sale aims to recover unpaid amounts from a settlement deal linked to the £190 million case involving Riaz, the founder of Bahria Town. Recoveries tied to £190m case: NAB conducts auction for 6 Bahria Town properties During the proceedings, petitioner's counsel, Farooq H Naek, appeared before the court and requested an immediate stay on the auction. Justice Khan, while dismissing the petition, remarked that a stay order could not be granted unilaterally and that the other parties must also be heard before any decision is made. Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan observed that copies of NAB references should also be attached with the appeals so that the actual extent of embezzlement could be ascertained. He noted that the accused had entered into a plea bargain with the NAB, handing over eight properties as part of the agreement. However, it was now being claimed that the plea bargain was made under duress, not voluntarily, he added. The bench observed that if a request to annul the plea bargain had been made to the NAB chairman, the case would revert to its original stage. In such a scenario, NAB could not proceed with the auction of the properties. Properties' auction: Bahria Town moves SC against IHC order The court added that following the annulment request, the accused would have to face trial on the reference, and only upon conviction could the properties be confiscated. Naek argued that this was precisely the matter at hand — his client's request to annul the plea bargain and the pending NAB reference. The court directed Naek to submit copies of the references filed against Bahria Town owner Malik Riaz and the housing society, and adjourned the hearing until August 13. The auction In the auction, the NAB listed the six properties including corporate offices on Plots 7-D (having estimated value of Rs871m) and 7-E (estimated value of Rs881m) in Bahria Town's Phase-II, Rawalpindi; Rubaish Marquee and Lawn in Islamabad (Rs488m), Arena Cinema (Rs1.1bn), Bahria Town International Academy (Rs1.07bn) and Safari Club (Rs1.2bn), in Bahria Town, Rawalpindi. The NAB confirmed the Rubaish Marquee was successfully sold for Rs508 million — Rs20 million above the reserved price. The bureau has begun the process of transferring the amount. Meanwhile, two other properties — Corporate Office-I and Corporate Office-II — received conditional bids of Rs876 million and Rs881.5 million respectively. It says that three properties remained unsold due to lack of qualifying bids. A re-auction will be announced soon. The NAB remains committed to transparent recovery of public funds and strict enforcement of accountability laws, the accountability bureau said.
Business Recorder
08-08-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Recoveries tied to £190m case: NAB conducts auction for 6 Bahria Town properties
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday initiated the process of transferring proceeds from the auction for properties linked to real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, as part of efforts to recover funds from a court-approved 2019 plea bargain. According to an official statement, the NAB conducted a public auction for six commercial properties associated with Malik Riaz and Bahria Town. The move is aimed at recovering unpaid amounts connected to the £190 million settlement case involving Riaz, the founder of Bahria Town. The six properties up for auction include one in Islamabad and five in Rawalpindi. The NAB said the sale aims to recover unpaid amounts from a settlement deal linked to the £190 million case involving Malik Riaz Hussain, the founder of Bahria Town. The NAB listed the six properties including corporate offices on Plots 7-D (having estimated value of Rs871m) and 7-E (estimated value of Rs881m) in Bahria Town's Phase-II, Rawalpindi; Rubaish Marquee and Lawn in Islamabad (Rs488m), Arena Cinema (Rs1.1bn), Bahria Town International Academy (Rs1.07bn) and Safari Club (Rs1.2bn), in Bahria Town, Rawalpindi. The NAB confirmed the Rubaish Marquee was successfully sold for Rs508 million — Rs20 million above the reserved price. The bureau has begun the process of transferring the amount. Meanwhile, two other properties — Corporate Office-I and Corporate Office-II — received conditional bids of Rs876 million and Rs881.5 million respectively. It says that three properties remained unsold due to lack of qualifying bids. A re-auction will be announced soon. The NAB remains committed to transparent recovery of public funds and strict enforcement of accountability laws. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Punjab opposition demands CJP's intervention in May 9 cases
Listen to article Opposition in the Punjab Assembly has called on Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi to personally intervene in the procedures being followed by Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) during the trial proceedings of PTI lawmakers, workers, and supporters in the May 9 cases. The demand was made through a letter addressed to CJP Afridi, highlighting various loopholes and alleged violations committed during the trial proceedings, which, according to the letter, deprived PTI members of their constitutional right to a fair trial under Article 10-A of the Constitution. Deputy Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly, Muhammad Moeenudin Riaz, told journalists that they had written to the CJP to draw his attention to these serious violations, noting that PTI lawmakers and supporters were sentenced despite these concerns being ignored. He said the letter also urged the Chief Justice to review the decisions handed down by the ATCs, which awarded sentences to PTI lawmakers and supporters in connection with the May 9 incidents. "No PTI leader, worker, or supporter was given a fair opportunity to engage proper legal defence in the May 9 cases," Riaz stated. 'What to speak of PTI leaders and workers—even the lawyers representing them were not granted adequate time to prepare their cases,' he added. He emphasised that the right to a fair trial and due process is guaranteed under Article 10-A of the Constitution. Riaz also said that the opposition has demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the May 9 cases and called for the media to be granted access for proper coverage of these proceedings.
Miami Herald
14-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Bay Area developer building ‘micro-studios,' and yes, people are renting them
The size of a typical studio apartment is 500 to 600 square feet. The studios that Riaz Capital is building around the Bay Area measure on average 300 square feet - which is on the small side, even for a standard hotel room. But the Oakland-based developer sees micro-studios as a way to provide "affordability by design" in a state where the cost of housing is a major financial burden for many residents. Units come with only the essentials. Many don't have ovens - just two electric burners. The first few units the company built came with mini fridges rather than full-size ones. (Upon residents' frustration with the lack of freezer space, they upgraded to bigger ones at their next project.) The small unit size means they can squeeze more apartments into a single building, achieving greater economies of scale when it comes to their maintenance and operating budget. So do the units rent for half as much as a 600-square-foot apartment? Well, no. But the rent is cheaper than many of the newly built apartments across the Bay Area. At ArtHaus Jack London, a former motel Riaz converted into 130 apartments, a 277-square-foot studio goes for $1,750 a month. That price is the same whether you're renting a market-rate apartment or one of the income-restricted 'below-market-rate' units for those making less than 110% of the area median income (about $120,000 for a single-income earner in Alameda County). Other newly built studios around Oakland of more typical size run closer to $2,200 a month. Riaz Capital is bringing the micro-unit concept elsewhere. They have built 2,200 residences throughout the Bay Area, and have 3,700 units in development across California, including in San Diego and Santa Cruz. Riaz Taplin, CEO, and Lisa Vilhauer, vice president of design and entitlement, sat down to explain why they're betting their smaller units can be a solution for some Californians looking for low-cost housing options. Q: How did you get into multifamily real estate? Taplin: In the 1970s, my dad was working in condo conversions. Some people bond with their dad around sports - me and my dad bonded over real estate. We started buying apartment buildings in the late '90s. Then, after I went to college, I felt like, "I didn't get a degree to deal with toilets and tenants." So I wanted to do something different. I spent the first part of my career building luxury housing, but I was interested in the idea of a design-based solution to affordability. I've spent the last five years focused on housing single-income professionals at scale. Vilhauer: I have a degree in landscape architecture but ended up working in civil engineering and planning. After eight years, I decided I wanted to be on the developer side instead of the consultant side. So I went to Taylor Morrison, which is a public national home builder, and a few years later went to a smaller family-owned development company in the East Bay, and then came to Riaz. Q: Land is so expensive in the Bay Area that we see most ground-up developers focusing on the top end of the market, where rents are the highest. On the other side of the spectrum you have nonprofit developers that rely largely on subsidies (typically, tax credits) to build affordable housing. Why focus on building apartments that are in the middle of the market? Vilhauer: Few people are building for the people who make somewhere in between - between $60,000 and $120,000. We decided to focus on them. We saw such a need. During 2020, when we started leasing our first project, that's when we saw that we'd really hit the nail on the head. We were finding a lot of renters who couldn't work remotely – who needed to be here in Oakland. People like teachers, bus drivers, nurses, who didn't want to be sharing spaces at that time, but they still needed to find somewhere within their budget. We're even seeing some retirees, who enjoy the convenience of living downtown. Q: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people wanted to live alone rather than with roommates. What are the trends in how people are living today, and how did that inform your design for these units? Vilhauer: People are often living in roommate situations because it's affordable. While some people enjoy the community aspect, a lot of people prefer to live on their own. That really informed our design. We're trying to build naturally occurring affordable housing, versus income-restricted. Some of our units are rent-restricted - like the moderate-income units that we built so that we could be allowed to build more units in each property with the state density bonus program. We also have a lot of renters staying here for shorter periods - like traveling nurses. We offer leases that are less than a year long for them. We also offer furnished units that are move-in ready. Q: During COVID-19, a lot of people decided to leave the urban environment. These ArtHaus apartments are very "urban" projects. How has that impacted your business? Taplin: The trend before the pandemic was small house, big life. You exchange having a big home in the suburbs for a smaller place in the city, because your backyard is the urban environment. The pandemic created a shift against proximity. That coincided with the end of a major tech cycle here. Now, with the rise of so many artificial intelligence companies in the Bay Area, I think we're starting to see another tech cycle. That's bringing people back, and they're looking for housing. Vilhauer: Here at ArtHaus Jack London, after nine months of lease-up, we're about 93% occupied. Q: Rents in most parts of California and the Bay Area have started to recover from the pandemic slump - except for in the East Bay. Are you getting the rents you expected? Taplin: No. This five-year period is an anomaly in California history - it may or may not correct itself. I believe that we'll see a reversion to the mean. Q: Can you talk a bit more about the state density bonus program and how you've used that in your projects? Vilhauer: The density bonus is a state policy program intended to get more housing built, both market-rate and affordable, through a trade off: the developer provides a certain amount of affordable housing, and in return they either are allowed to build more densely, or get out of development standards that might add costs to a building. Santa Cruz, for example, has a standard that developers can't use vinyl windows. And it's hugely costly to install aluminum windows. So through the density bonus, we're providing more affordable homes, and we're able to install vinyl instead of aluminum. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
ITV News
11-07-2025
- ITV News
Taxi driver with 'sordid interest in children' jailed for sexually assaulting teenage girl
A taxi driver who sexually assaulted a teenage girl he picked up in his car has been jailed. Police said during the journey she took videos and captured the conversation where she told Wahid Riaz she was 14. But he parked at the bottom of her street, told her to hug him and began kissing her. He then engaged in sexual activity with her before dropping her off at her house. When she got home she went straight into the bathroom and vomited before getting onto the sofa and crying herself to sleep. At Preston Crown Court Riaz, 52, of Causey Fott, Nelson, was jailed for five years and ordered to sign the Sex Offender's Register for the rest of his life. In a victim impact statement the girl said: 'Immediately after the incident, I had a deep feeling of being dirty. I had really long baths and showers, and I would scrub my body so much I would make it red. "I was just trying to feel clean. This incident happened in summer, and I was really conscious about what I was wearing. I refused to wear shorts, skirts, or crop tops."I was anxious and asked myself if my clothes were too revealing or if they showed too much skin, what might happen to me. As I blamed myself and what I wore that night."Detectives said Riaz made his young victim go through the stress of having to give evidence in court after refusing to admit what he had done. DC Ryan Benson, who led the investigation into the assault in July 2023, said: "Wahid Riaz is a despicable individual who has a sordid sexual interest in children.
