What happened
The National Accountability Bureau took physical possession of Karachi’s Bahria Icon Tower on Monday 6 July 2026, after a Rawalpindi accountability court confirmed the provisional attachment of the property, the bureau said.
NAB said the action followed an anti-money-laundering investigation against M/s Galaxy Construction (Private) Limited and others. According to the bureau, the investigation established that the construction of the building and the acquisition of the underlying land were financed through the proceeds of crime and that the property was involved in money laundering.
The tower, in Karachi’s Clifton area and widely regarded as the country’s tallest building, was provisionally attached under section 8 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010. After further evidence was collected, NAB filed an application to confirm the attachment, and the accountability court confirmed it by an order dated 3 July 2026. In execution of that order, NAB took possession on Monday and handed custody and management of the property to the local administration, sources said. The tower was estimated to be worth around Rs100 billion.
Background to the case
NAB said Rs8 billion in crime proceeds had been laundered for the construction, and that the property had been held through a front company, M/s Galaxy Construction. A separate Bahria Town tower on Tariq Road was attached after investigators found the project was held in the name of a man described as a benami front man for Malik Riaz Hussain and M/s Bahria Town. In 2020, the bureau filed a reference against Mr Riaz and others over the illegal allotment of the plot where the Bahria Icon Tower stands.
The possession order came after a series of earlier actions. In June 2026, an accountability court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the property tycoon, his son and others in the Bahria Town Karachi land case, and later issued a 15-day freezing order on properties across the country. In May 2026, NAB froze four more high-value properties belonging to Bahria Town. Mr Riaz is also an absconder in the £190 million Al Qadir Trust case.
Why it matters
The Bahria Icon Tower is one of Pakistan’s most prominent real estate assets, and its attachment is a visible step in a case that has run for years against one of the country’s best-known developers. The action tests the accountability process around high-value property suspected of being built with laundered money, at a time when anti-money-laundering enforcement is a condition of Pakistan’s international financial engagements.
What is still uncertain
The account of the investigation and the value of the property come from NAB and the accountability court’s order as reported. The underlying charges have not been finally adjudicated, and Mr Riaz and the other accused were not reported to have responded to Monday’s development. The case remains before the courts.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details are as carried by the cited sources, which were reviewed on 2026-07-06.
- Dawn — "NAB takes possession of Karachi's Bahria Icon Tower amid investigation against property tycoon Malik Riaz"6 July 2026 · The attachment order, the investigation's findings and the earlier actions in the case.
