Farah booked Rs70m Porsche car

ISLAMABAD: While the expensive Hermès Birkin bag of Farhat Shehzadi aka Farah Khan has received a lot of attention amid corruption allegations against the closest friend of the prime minister’s spouse, her bid for the Porsche luxury car has largely remained out of the public eye which she booked and for which she made a Rs33 million advance payment in 2020. At that time it was available for around Rs70 million.

Farah, the top confidante of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s wife, has been at the centre of discussions on social media and in political drawing rooms since the sacked Governor of Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar and, in particular, former senior minister of Punjab, Abdul Aleem Khan, named her as the real person who was running the province and brokering deals running into billions of rupees.

From Monday onward, her Birkin bag whose price is stated to be around $90,000 has been in the news. Her picture of holding the bag while sitting in a chartered plane is in circulation. The purse made by the French luxury brand Hermès is prepared on order. One can’t just get it by visiting a store. The order has to be placed months in advance.

Farha’s penchant for luxury items is also evident from her bid to buy a luxury car, Porsche, which she got booked through Porsche’s Pakistani dealer and paid a part amount of it (Rs33 million) as advance. This she declared in the nomination papers she submitted for Senate election in March 2021; Farah pulled out from the Senate race.

She was among the several complainants against the local dealer of Porsche in early 2021 as they were not delivering cars despite the fact that they had deposited advance amounts. One of them had even moved NAB against the deal. The CEO of Porsche Pakistan then clarified that he collected advances on behalf of the parent company, Porsche AG, which refused to deliver cars on time. It remains unclear whether Farah was able to get a Porsche or not.

In the assets she attached with her Senate’s nomination papers, Farah also mentioned a flat she owned in UAE which is probably her current place of residence as she flew there late Sunday. In the assets declaration, mentioned value of the flat is Rs16 million. She also owns agriculture property in Chakri village (which is close to the proposed ring road). Other than that, she declared six properties in DHA Lahore and three in Bahria Town among others.

Farhat and her husband are also linked with a UK-based company, Gold Star Euro Limited which they apparently bought in May 2020. Other directors of the company include Akhtar Ali Bandeshah, Dr. Irfan Ahmed Malik and Nazar Murshad. All of them were appointed on May 14, 2020.

Bandeshah and Murshad are physicians in Pakistan. Dr. Irfan who is a British citizen has opened several companies related to real estate since he became director of Gold Star which was previously owned by British Pakistanis, Umar Elahi and Muqeet Furqan Elahi.