The National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom has agreed to a settlement worth £190 million with the family of property tycoon Malik Riaz.
“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,” read a statement by the agency. The NCA has accepted a settlement offer of £190 million, which includes a UK property – 1 Hyde Park Place, London, W2 2LH – valued at approximately £50 million and all of the funds in the frozen accounts.
The assets will be returned to the State of Pakistan.
The Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) also confirmed the development, saying that UK’s NCA had “agreed to an out of court settlement […] with a Pakistani family that owns large property developments in Pakistan and elsewhere”.
A statement, released from the office of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar, said that Britain had agreed to an “immediate repatriation” of the funds received after the settlement and hailed it as a “success story of close cooperation between the United Kingdom and Pakistan’s multiple law enforcement agencies and efforts made since last year’s Justice and Accountability Partnership created between the two countries”.
“The settlement is a civil matter and does not represent a finding of guilt,” the statement emphasized.
Furthermore, the ARU revealed that the property included in the settlement was sold to the family in 2016 by Hassan Nawaz, former premier Nawaz Sharif’s son.
via: News Desk
