ECP releases asset details of 5 caretaker federal ministers

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Tuesday released assets details of five members of the caretaker federal cabinet, showing Minister for Information and Law Barrister Syed Ali Zafar as the richest among his colleagues. Zafar is the richest cabinet member with total assets worth more than Rs283.8 million, who owns vehicles worth more than Rs19.5 million and possesses bank balance of over Rs111.5 million. He is owner of three apartments in Dubai and a house in London and Birmingham each. His spouse also owns assets worth over Rs15.9 million and 150 tolas in gold. In the details, submitted to the ECP, he has shown mortgaged assets worth over Rs31 million. Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar's total assets have worth over Rs40 million, who served as the head of the State Bank of Pakistan from 2006-2009, owns three houses in Islamabad and one in Karachi; with the properties valued at more than Rs2.8 million. The interim minister has given details of savings certificates worth Rs27.7 million and investment in PSO and a private bank worth Rs2.2 million, besides owning Rs7.2 million in her bank account and gold worth Rs200,000. Interim Interior Minister Azam Khan owns assets worth over Rs14.5 million. He owns also a house in Peshawar and two plots worth Rs6.5 million. Azam, a retired bureaucrat, having served as the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary, has declared himself as a partial owner of Charsadda Sugar Mill, Premier Sugar Mill Mardan and Premier Board Mill Mardan. His wife is the owner of a one-kanal residential plot worth Rs3 million along with over Rs600,000 worth of gold. Both also possess Rs4.3 million in bank accounts.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdullah Hussain Haroon has shown his Karachi home as his ancestral inheritance in the asset documents.

The minister, who served as Pakistan's permanent representative in the United Nations during previous Pakistan People’s Party government, owns 25 acres in Islamabad, Sindh and has shown an investment of Rs1.7 million and is in possession of 50 tolas gold. Haroon owns a Toyota Land Cruiser worth Rs9 million and a Mercedes worth Rs2.8 million, along with a bank balance of Rs4.8 million.

Caretaker Education Minister Mohammad Yousaf Sheikh owns total assets worth over Rs23.4 million. The former army major and college principal has shown a bank balance of over Rs5.47 million and ownership of one house and four plots in Karachi and a plot in Dadu. He also owns agriculture land in Larkana and Thatta, with his total property valued at over Rs18.3 million.

Under the Elections Act 2017, it is mandatory for the caretaker prime minister and chief ministers as well as members of their cabinets to submit statements of their assets and liabilities to the Election Commission within three days of assuming office. The documents will include statements of their assets and liabilities and those of their spouses and children as on June 30. Under Section 230 of the Elections Act, the statements have to be made on a specified form are to be published in the official gazette.

The ECP has also released a list of 17 caretaker ministers of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, who have not submitted their statements so far. Of these, seven are cabinet members of Punjab, namely Zafar Mehmood, Dr Jawad Sajid Khan, Shaukat Javed, Anjum Nisar, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, Mian Nauman Kabir and Faisal Mushtaq.

Whereas, in Sindh cabinet, ministers who did not file details of their assets hitherto include Dr Junaid Shah, Dr Sadia Virk, Simon Johan Dainniyal. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet, Abdul Rauf Khan Khattak, Sanaullah, Muqadasullah, Muhammad Rashid Khan and Justice ® Asadullah Khan Chamkani did not submit their assets details.

Inyiatullah Kasi and Khurram Shahzad from Balochistan have also failed to submit their assets’ details.