Declared assets: ECP data reveals interesting facts about lawmakers

Detail show that Senator Rehman Malik has no immovable property in Pakistan


Irfan Ghauri January 10, 2015
Detail show that Senator Rehman Malik has no immovable property in Pakistan. STOCK IMAGE

ISLAMABAD:


The details of assets declared by lawmakers and published at the official website of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) show some interesting details about the lives of the country’s parliamentarians.


According to the website, Senator Rehman Malik, who was interior minister during the last tenure of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government, has all his assets – worth millions in Great Britain Pounds (GBP) – outside Pakistan and has no immovable property anywhere in the country.

The senator in his assets declarations for the year 2013 claimed that he has a property in London worth GBP 2.5 million – a property which he valued at Rs339.75 million in Pakistani rupees. Malik, who originally belongs to Sialkot, Punjab, does not mention any property in his name, or in the name of his spouse or children either in his native town or anywhere else in Pakistan.



He owns a vehicle which he valued at GBP 27,000. It is, however, not explained what is the make and model of the vehicle. Other than these, he has 50 tola of gold and Rs126,531 cash in his only account at a local bank in Islamabad.

In his liabilities, he has shown an amount of GBP 1.0 million in mortgage he secured from some British financial institution.

Contrary to Malik, Farhatullah Babar – another senator from the PPP – has not only disclosed his assets but also provided all details – including dates of purchase, their cost and present values. He has also mentioned what part of his assets will be transferred to his children once they grow up.

Babar also mentioned the gifts he received during foreign visits with their market value, all the account numbers he has in banks along with exact amount in these accounts. He also mentioned his foreign remittances in 1980s, 1990s and 2000s onward.

Another PPP Senator Sughra Imam has got all her properties as gifts from her parents and family. She has provided an estimated value of these assets in detail which now run to millions of rupees. She has also mentioned the exact amount of cash she received from her parents and all her bank accounts.

Nawabzada Mir Israrullah Zehri, a Baloch nationalist, owns combined properties of thousands of acres in different districts of Balochistan, bungalows in Quetta and Karachi in a long list attached separately with the prescribed form, but he did not mention cost or present value of any of these assets.

PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain mentioned that he has 50% share in two residential properties in Islamabad and Lahore. He has only mentioned the meager amount the family spent to buy these properties and specifically mentioned that since these were not on sale, there was no need to mention the market value of these properties.  He also disclosed his shares in industrial units which he valued at Rs32.39 million.

He also has a cash of Rs47.75 million while his wife has Rs16.00 million in bank accounts. However, the couple has no vehicle in their name nor they mentioned their share in properties in their native town Gujrat.

Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, who has an accounting background, is among one of the most affluent lawmakers.

He has mentioned that all his salary as federal minister goes as donation to M/s Hajveri Trust which manages an orphanage. The minister also paid Rs50,000 to a poor lady who had failed to change her old Rs100 and Rs500 currency notes before these were declared obsolete.

He also mentioned that he paid Rs2.3 million as taxes at source and income tax of Rs2.7 million. Interestingly, the minister also has Rs372.00 million as TDR at a private bank in its Gulberg Lahore branch.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2015.

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