Business tycoon Malik Riaz, whose name was put on the Exit Control List (ECL) in light of a report by the joint investigation team (JIT) probing the money laundering case, was given a “one-time special permission” to leave the country, reports have surfaced.
It was earlier reported that Riaz’s name has been placed on the no-fly list and he will not be allowed to leave the country until his name is cleared in numerous corruption cases.
Riaz is among the suspects in the fake bank accounts and money laundering case which has been referred to the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Rawalpindi office on the Supreme Court’s (SC) orders.
In the past, the government has been accused of political favoritism for “names of PTI lawmakers are removed from ECL within 24 hours” as evident in the case of Liaqat Jatoi, who belongs to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and whose name was put on the list, but was later “traveling with impunity”.
Zahid Gishkori, a correspondent at Geo News and The Washington Post wrote that the Bahria Town chairman seems to be “enjoying liberty with power”.
“After PTI leader Liaqat Jatoi, it is now Malik Riaz Hussain, chief executive officer of Bahria Town, [who has] left the country! Both names were placed on ECL upon the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) (Jatoi) and fake accounts (Hussain) investigation. [But] both have taken one-time permission from the Ministry of Interior [to travel abroad],” he wrote.
Journalists Omar Quraishi and Mubashir Zaidi also cited media reports pertaining to Riaz’s departure from the country.
Malik Riaz flies out of Pakistan despite being on the Exit Control List pic.twitter.com/2DpvLnMwaD
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) January 30, 2019
Yeh sawal aap @pid_gov say poochain jinhon nay issi context mein Malik Riaz ko ECL mein honay kay baawajood bahar janay ki ijazat di https://t.co/QaWxWaC4Ow
— Mubashir Zaidi (@Xadeejournalist) January 29, 2019
