Shaukat Aziz has given
the value of his $5M Manhattan Pent House as $175K
Huge Fraud Committed
by Pakistani MPs in Assets Declarations
Special
SAT Report
ISLAMABAD:
Some of the top parliamentarians of today may be in trouble as
General Musharraf’s arm-twisting machine, the National Accountability
Bureau (NAB) has started looking into the sources of the assets
they have declared as part of the election process.
“At
the moment the NAB is looking into assets of Opposition MPs or
those who they want to keep in control on the government side
as well, but these assets, now on record with the Election Commission
and partly made public officially, can cause trouble for any one
any time, even after the present government is gone,” a
senior political analyst said in Islamabad.
The
list of those who have declared their millions and billions is
interesting and repulsive as these political heavyweights have
already made so much money while most of them cannot show where
it came from.
The
declarations leave many questions unanswered and also raise new
questions as the deadlines for these declarations were specially
shifted because Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz did not submit his
assets and he wanted more time.
The
forms and information required was also changed at the last moment
and instead of asking when these assets were acquired and at what
price and what was the current appraised price or market price,
the MPs were asked only to declare the assets, without telling
when and at what price they were acquired.
So it is unclear whether the millions
declared by sitting ministers were made during their current stings
or these people had these millions before joining the military
government.
Interestingly the assets of National
Assembly members have not been made public as it would be of specific
interest to know what has been declared by the two sons of former
Generals, Zia ul Haq and Akhtar Abdur Rehman. These two sons,
Ejazul Haq and Humayun Akhtar, have become the prime examples
of corruption and wealth accumulation by the army generals but
they are being protected, at least so far.
More people belonging to the families
of other generals will also be exposed when the assets of all
National Assembly members are made public, if they are.
Most
of 100 Senators of Pakistan are millionaires or billionaires,
according to the details of their assets released by the Election
Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The details are based on the assets
and liabilities statements filed by the senators with the ECP.
The
assets have been evaluated by the owners themselves and in most
cases anything worth a million dollars has been valued at just
10 per cent of the market price or even less. Even then there
are billionaires by the dozen.
A
number of senators have apparently disclosed their assets far
below the present market value. According to the ECP, the richest
member of the Senate is Azam Khan Swati, who was elected independent
from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). His wealth totals
around Rs3.36755 billions. His major business is based in the
United States where he owns a chain of stores. Swati has also
obtained a loan of around $3 million from an American bank.
Liaquat
Ali Bangalzai and Maulvi Agha Mohammad told the ECP they did not
own even a penny. Ilyas Bilour said he owns Rs70 million assets
but also mentioned loans of an equal amount. Mushahid Hussain
showed assets of over Rs16 million. Nisar Memon disclosed assets
of over Rs30 million.
Senate
Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro has assets of over Rs8 million including
a 92-kanal farm in Lahore worth just Rs1.8 million. Deputy Senate
Chairman Khalilur Rehman has assets valuing Rs21.1 million. Prof
Ghafoor Ahmad showed assets of Rs3 million. Wasim Sajjad disclosed
assets over Rs10 million including a farm in Jheenga Galli with
a price of just Rs18,000. Sajjad did not mention the value of
the house at Canal Road in Lahore and just said he owns 15 percent
share in it, which he inherited. Senator Tahira Latif showed assets
of Rs27.5 million. Tariq Azim Khan and Mohammad Ali Durrani owned
over Rs10 million assets each.
Finance
Minister Shaukat Aziz revealed over Rs400 million assets while
Ishaq Dar over Rs297.1 million. Both have millions of pounds and
dollars in foreign banks. Ishaq Dar has 2.4 million pounds and
3,05,000 UAE dirhams. Aziz’s assets include a flat in the
UK (worth Rs10.84 million), an apartment in New York (worth Rs10.1
million), a bungalow in Defense Society, Karachi, (worth Rs3.5
million) and a plot worth (Rs500,000). Aziz owns two apartments
one each in London and New York with both having values in millions
of rupees. He has 310,000 pounds in a bank in London, nearly 3
million dollars in Citibank in the US.
While
the value of Shaukat Aziz's flat in UK is grossly undervalued,
the New York Pent House that Aziz has estimated to be priced at
Rs 10 million (or less than US$ 175,000) is actually a Pent House
in the prestigious UN Plaza Building where the value of each Pent
House is about 5 to 10 million dollars (between Rs 300m to Rs
600m).
“It
shows in clear terms that the Finance Minister has played a direct
fraud with the Pakistani authorities as in the current booming
real estate market of New York, a one room studio in the heart
of Manhattan would not be available for $175,000” a real
estate agent said in New York. What his Pent House has is at least
3 bedrooms, a big living room, a servant quarter and the building
has its own security systems, staff which monitors every visitor
and is considered to be the most prime property in Manhattan.
New York millionaire and Pakistani-American businessman and writer,
Mansoor Ijaz, also owns a Pent House in the same building.
Former
ISI Chief Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf, now senator, owns assets
of about Rs40 million. Senator Latif Khosa has assets of over
Rs150 million, S.M. Zafar nearly Rs60 million, Farooq Naek Rs13.1
million, Khalid Ranjha over Rs60 million and Dr Muhammad Khan
nearly Rs90 million.
Several
senators did not show the assets, which are in the name of their
dependents. Wife of a former Air Force Chief Begum Razeena Aalam
Khan showed assets of over Rs20 million. Senator Waqar Ahmed has
wealth of over Rs23.5 million but his father, Gulzar Ahmed, also
a Senator, owns just Rs1 million with loans of nearly Rs200 million.
Asfandyar Wali has over Rs10 million assets.
Farhatullah
Babar owns assets of over Rs4.9 million, Maulana Samiul Haq of
Rs4.1 million, Fauzia Fakhruzzaman Rs42.4 million, Amin Dadabhoy
nearly Rs20 million, Babar Khan Ghauri Rs30 million, Mian Raza
Rabbani Rs17.5 million, Asif Jatoi Rs22.5 million, Dr Abdullah
Rs262.2 million with millions of dollars in foreign banks. Maulana
Shah Ahmad Noorani has assets of over Rs8.6 million, Senator Ahmed
Ali Rs80 million and Anwar Begum Rs5.7 million.
