Anomalies found in assets declaration of SAPMs, advisers

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Zulfi Bukhari has shown in his assets that he purchased Toyota Land Cruiser 2012 on April 23, 2018 for Rs200 million, almost the price of most expensive, rarely seen Lamborghini.

This type of Land Cruiser is estimated to be less than even Rs20 million. Therefore, Zulfi Bukhari, a British national, seems to have made a grave typographical error in his declaration. This vehicle, he said, is held by him in Pakistan apart from different high-priced cars in Britain.

Another highlight emerging during the scrutiny of the assets/liabilities details of all the 20 special assistants and advisers is that they did write their bank account numbers in their declarations but deleted (hidden with the marker) later.

It appears they consulted with the top relevant quarters that thought that there was no need to disclose the account numbers. Adviser Babar Awan faced a dilemmatic situation that generally befalls ordinary mortals. He purchased a property in Spain he valued it at Rs11,013,920, but stated that its possession was never delivered and the concerned seller company is at present untraced.

Dr Shahbaz Gill, who is a US green card holder, has under mortgage of Rs13,065,000 House number 2008 S Anderson Street Ulbana IL 61801 USA. He stated that he purchased a plot and a farmhouse in Gulberg Green Islamabad out of remittances brought from abroad. Mirza Shahzad Akbar declared that his spouse inherited a flat in Spain and no cost was paid for that. He also has three other inherited properties in Gujar Khan tehsil for which no cost was paid. He has cash in hand of Rs15,000,000, which is included in his bank balances of Rs45,490,819.

Among the special assistants and advisers, Yar Muhammad Rind perhaps has the maximum cash, Rs176,968,116, in hand. He has deposits of Rs202,363,520 in foreign bank accounts whose details are missing from his declaration. His nationality column on the Cabinet Division website is blank.

He owns Spring Residential Villa in Dubai valued at Rs42,000,000 and his son has an apartment at the International City Dubai, valuing Rs33,600,000. Shahzad Syed Qasim, who holds US nationality, owns three properties each in the United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has four bank accounts in the US; and one account in Singapore and two in UAE.

Nadeem Babar, who is a US citizen, has interest/shares in companies/firms dealing with food, feed, farms, edible oil, animal pharma, medicines, power, energy, aqua farms, solar power, poultry etc.

Moeed Yusuf, who has residency in the US, owns two vehicles in America, which are owned by his spouse apart from a number of bank accounts in the US, owned by his wife and children. He made a mistake in his declaration when he wrote that he joined his present position in December 2020.

Tania Shahid Aidrus, who is a Canadian national by birth and has permanent residency in Singapore, has stated that she has no immovable property in Pakistan but has four properties in the US, UK and Singapore.

Dr Ishrat Hussain has three properties in the US in the name of his spouse while Dr Hafeez Shaikh's wife owns a house in Dubai.

Most of the special assistants and advisers have been given the status of federal minister or minister of state. They preside over key economic ministries and attend cabinet meetings. They do not require administration of constitutional oath.