LHC accepts petition for early hearing

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

Thursday, February 18, 2010
By Faisal Kamal Pasha
Rawalpindi

Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmad of the Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bench, has accepted an application for early hearing in a case relating to sale of Pakistan embassy building in Japan allegedly at throwaway price by the former ambassador of Pakistan to Japan.

Previously the matter was pending before the defunct Islamabad High Court (IHC) but now the case would be taken up by the LHC, Rawalpindi Bench.

Nominating the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing through their secretaries, ambassador of Pakistan in Japan, ex-ambassador and nine other persons as respondents, the petitioner, Ahmad Iqbal Janjua, president of the Human Rights Council of Pakistan, Japan Chapter, has maintained that the ambassador sold the building of the embassy located in a posh area of Tokyo to a real estate firm of Japan against 6.3 billion yen in 2006, whereas the actual price of the building was more than 12 billion yen.

The petitioner, through his lawyer Ajam Naz Malik, has also maintained that when he contacted the then ambassador in Japan, Kamran Niaz, regarding the matter, he said that the building was swapped with another building more spacious.

The petitioner also told the court that as per Pakistan’s ambassador he was aimed at building a multi-storey complex at the newly acquired piece of land and he could only build a three-storey building at the previous site according to local rules.

The petitioner revealed that Namura Real Estate Holdings that bought the land sought the permission for the construction of seven-storey building from the local authorities that is quite contrary to the claim of the ex-ambassador. The petitioner further told the court that the said sale was never advertised in the Japanese national newspapers that have further made the deal doubtful as no other bidder was invited to fill in the tender. The petitioner termed the sale deal as illegal saying according to law the ambassador had no authority to sell any property of Pakistan rather he or she could only purchase land or building with prior permission of ministries of foreign affairs and finance or could get the facility repaired to a certain extent.

The petitioner revealed that former ambassador Kamran Niaz in cooperation with the buyer of the embassy building had set up a business with the name of Aisha Steel Mills Limited with its value worth $100 million in Karachi recently. Kamran is the executive director of the mill with his share amounting to $49 million. He said such a huge investment by a public servant casts doubts on the sale of the embassy building and involvements of kickbacks.

The petitioner has prayed to the court to annul the sale of the building, order an inquiry against those involved in the sale and stop the Aisha Steel Mills from functioning till the final decision on the writ petition.