Property tycoon Malik Riaz said on Sunday he would not surrender to any “pressure tactics”, alleging that he had been under pressure to compromise.

“For over a year now, I’ve been under immense pressure to compromise, but I’ll never allow anyone to use me as a pawn for political motives,” he said in a social media post on X.

Last year, the Supreme Court ordered that Rs65 billion – which includes the amount remitted from the UK by Bahria Town and money deposited by Bahria Town in a SC account locally — be transferred to the Central and the Sindh governments.

The Rs35 billion to go to the federal government was remitted from abroad in 2019 after a British court lifted a freezing order against a bank account held by the Malik Riaz family. This remittance came to be known as a ‘£190 million case’ being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau.

His name started making rounds when the £190 million case started against incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan.

On November 27, 2023, PTI chief’s legal aide Naeem Haider Panjutha said that Khan does not deny receiving land for the Al-Qadir trust from Riaz.

“Khan accepts the fact that £190 million came in the Supreme Court account and he and his wife Bushra Bibi are trustees in Al-Qadir trust. He [Khan] says that he is not getting any benefit from all of this,” Panjutha had told Aaj News.

In the long social media post, the business tycoon claimed that he had not taken any political sides or was being used by one party against the other.

While speaking about the alleged pressure, he claimed that it has been a recurring pattern of victimisation against him and his business for introducing state-of-the-art projects in Pakistan.

“From 1996 till today, I’ve been punished for contributing towards the progress of the country. Even today, in a personal capacity, I can say with utmost certainty, ‘over my dead body’,” Riaz said.

Amid rumours of Bahria Town’s default last year, Riaz said that such reports were a “lie” and he had apparently been chased by different people.

In a detailed press conference on January 09, 2023, the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s federal cabinet announced its decision to investigate the alleged corruption of the preceding PTI-led government, which they said did not submit the recovered amount of Rs50 billion from Riaz to the national exchequer.

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Malik Riaz rebuffs rumours of Bahria Town default

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“The PTI government returned the confiscated money back to the person (Malik Riaz) who was fined. This is the reality,” Rana Sanaullah had said.

According to the business tycoon, he was bearing financial business loss daily and being “pushed to the wall completely”. He vowed to fight back.

“But will not surrender to any pressure tactics,” Riaz said.