Pakistan

How rich are Pakistani MNAs?

Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency report states that assets of MNAs have trebled.

Express September 14, 2010

A Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) report states that assets of parliamentarians have trebled within six years.

The Pildat report series titled 'How rich are Pakistani MNAs?' has analysed assets declared by MNAs through separate reports, and has used data contained in the Gazettes published by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

A comparative analysis of the assets declared by MNAs belonging to the 12th and the 13th National Assembly of Pakistan reveals that the average value of an MNA’s assets has increased three fold in six years from 2002-2003 to 2008-2009.

The report also indicates that an average MNA of the current (13th) National Assembly is twice as rich compared to his/her counterpart in the previous (12th) National Assembly.

The average value of an MNA’s assets in the 12th National Assembly was just below Rs 27 million in 2002-2003 which has increased to almost Rs 81 million in 2008-2009.

In terms of individual wealth, the 2008-2009 declarations reveal the following figures:

MNA	Total Assets
Mr Mehboob Ullah Jan (NA-23, Kohistan, KP, PPPP)	Rs 3.288 billion
Mr Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (NA-50, Rawalpindi-I, Punjab, PML-N),	Rs 1.627 billion
Mr Jahangir Khan Tareen (NA-195, R.Y.Khan-IV, Punjab, PML-F)	Rs 1.095 billion
Mr Saeed Ahmed Zafar (NA-162, Nankana Sahib-II Old Sheikhupura-VII, Punjab, IND)	Rs 1.030 billion
Ms Nuzhat Sadiq (NA-277, Punjab-V, PML-N)	Rs 912.81 million

The least wealthy MNAs in 2008-2009 are as follows:

MNA	Total Assets
Mr Saeed Iqbal Chaudhary (NA-81, Faisalabad-VII, Punjab, PPPP)	Rs 29 million
Mr Roshan Din Junejo (NA-236, Sanghar-III, Sindh, PPPP)	N/A
Sheikh Rohale Asghar (NA-124 Lahore-VII, Punjab, PML-N)	N/A
Mr Ghulam Farid Kathia Minister of State for Education	N/A
Mr Ayaz Amir (NA-60 Chakwal-I, Punjab, PML-N)	N/A

Pildat is an independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit indigenous research and training institution with the mission to strengthen democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan.

COMMENTS (36)

Jawed Rajput | 14 years ago | Reply Would the richest MNAs accept specific government bonds for five years term to lend money to the State to contribute for easing up circular debt or covering the financial gap in the state enterprises like railway, PIA, steel mill? Or for the economic revival of the economy. Their response to come out of their commitment would be " its governess issue". While they are responsible for the mess they collectively have created.

Rizwan T Khan | 14 years ago | Reply Lets not curse these so called leaders (vultures) but curse ourselves (the citizens) who repeatedly bring these people back into power so they can rip us all again and again..so they are not the culprit, its the general citizens who are. A meat eater will eat meat as its his nature. Lets not expect him to start eating vegetable, in same manner lets not expect anything good out of these so called leaders. If we want to bring change, then vote for a HUMAN BEING, not a vulture.

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Asim | 14 years ago | Reply I'm in the wrong profession.

hubclover | 14 years ago | Reply Mehboob Ullah Jan's assets are not what PILDAT mentioned. They evaluated it with their own procedure. Mehboob Ullah Jan is in Timber business and pays 21% cess after every 100 Rupees as Kohistan being exempted of Tax. Rest of his assets comes from the land his family owns at Diamer and Bhasha, in a place where they can't cultivate or build; that land has been evaluated for Royalty after construction of Diamer Bhasha Dam so apparently his Undivided Family assets which he submited beofre elections have been evaluated with the same ratio of rise in value with urban areas which does not seems justified.

hussain | 14 years ago | Reply if any of the MNA wants to sell his all assets at the cost he has mentioned in his papers, i would love to purchase it. open & alwys valid offer.

Azeem Khan | 14 years ago | Reply Its a shame on all Pakistani Voters as they knowingly select these corrupt PPP and PML-N politicians. nothing has been changed and after the PPP its turn for PML-N to raise their bank balances and wealth.

Naziha | 14 years ago | Reply And how rich is the Pakistan army's top brass? How about looking into that for a change instead of only focusing on politicians, who haven't been in power for much of this benighted country's history anyway?

jai | 14 years ago | Reply Funny how politicians in South Asia are unable to manage the countries well yet outperform westerners when managing personal wealth. Perhaps they could teach these "legitimate" financial management skills to the citizens and alleviate poverty all together.

saher | 14 years ago | Reply Hats off to those who did declare their wealth instead of saying they have nothing and pay 5000 tax:P... anywes... it says the wealth is triple in this NA compared to last one.. that does not mean the wealth has tripled... it just means wealthier ppl are in the assembly.. why? well because wealthier ppl in pak do politics.. ppl like us lay back and relax.. and wait for the dictators :) and i agree with muhammad faraz.

Ahmer Ali | 14 years ago | Reply Assalam-o-Allaikum Warahmatullah.This is not strange for us because when our current president is multi-trillion dollar man then this is our politicians' basic and strong right to be the rich bags of Pakistan.Poor nation should never be surprised after knowing the assets' details of our politicians and should keep it in their mind that these corrupt politicians and leaders are as a sequence of our intentionally done bad deeds wrought by our own hands.

Mohammad Faraz | 14 years ago | Reply Dear Sir, please also post the immense wealth of Pakisani Jurnuls and top grade officers. Why only target politicians when the big fish are still lurking in the filthy pond?

Obedullah Khan | 14 years ago | Reply Why do we or our people elect them in the first place. they are not worthy of our vote.

shahzad | 14 years ago | Reply shahid khaqan is owner of Airblue and its does'nt matter why he is rich, pakistan muslim league nawaz candidates are honest and media un justifically blame them. long live nawaz sharif long live pakistan muslim league n

Mazhar Aziz | 14 years ago | Reply Mr Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is also Chief Operation Officer (COO), Airblue. Wow Khaqan Sab Wow..................

faisal | 14 years ago | Reply They all are theives!!....

Tempoline | 14 years ago | Reply Who Cares...! No wonder we have such a low Literacy rate. A lot of big names are missing in the list. If they disclose their real wealth, you never know they would be among the richest people in the world. Such a shame.......

Syed Nadir El-Edroos | 14 years ago | Reply while we are on the topic, any chance we can get figures of how much the higher echelons of the bureaucracy, military and judiciary have accumulated after years of service on the tax payers dime?

Harris | 14 years ago | Reply Unimpressive piece of work, dude!! Looks like you're trying to hide something here....??!!!

shahid | 14 years ago | Reply what about the ex generals.why we keep looking at the tip of the iceberg ?

Fardad | 14 years ago | Reply It hardly matters how rich or poor an MNA is. What is important is how much is he capable at the job. Apparently majority in the assemblies comprise of nincompoops elected with the sheer muscles of money. Merit is extinct and so is performance. The present system of democracy has become obsolete and dysfunctional and is now a liability. It should be replaced with Meritocracy in which system capable people will become public representatives and deliver. This is the only way forward.

Hassan حسن رمضان حسن | 14 years ago | Reply it probably true but these figures must need to verify by our EC as one of the above MNA giving interview to local channel in which he totally denied all allegations but though i really appreciate above report keep it up....

S | 14 years ago | Reply @Nadir El-Edroos - If you look at the actual report, it tallies up net worth. Its not a question of possessing assets. It is that the liabilities for all those listed above as 'N/A' out-weigh their assets. Mr. Ayaz Amir, for example, is shown to be 0.15 million rupees in the red.

talal | 14 years ago | Reply i am waiting for the report on Sindh ministers and MNA.

Schaze | 14 years ago | Reply Not impressed by this piece. A list of few MNA's? Many of them have only been elected once or twice. Get actual culprits and specially women parliamentarians who come in the category of 'Jiyalas' or having good (PR) with Army Generals i.e Tariq Aziz. Get info on how a party worker who chanted slogans on streets made it to Parliament and became rich. Just a tip

Talat Haque | 14 years ago | Reply What stuff may come ............. from Kohistan (mountains) !!!!

bilal | 14 years ago | Reply It would be interesting if MNA's were required to provide the source of such fortunes! How can wealth triple in such short periods?

Shahid Shah | 14 years ago | Reply My hats of to those MNA that declared their assets. There is no doubt that other MNAs are wealthier, but lack the integrity to pay taxes or declare their assets. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is among the most upright members of this parliament. Unfortunately, his party (PML N) leadership lacks his vision and integrity!

Adeel | 14 years ago | Reply Hahaha, its funny how N/A is automatically placed in the LEAST category! Who knows, if Pildat gets their hands on the tax returns (if they pay taxes) of these N/A "LEAST" wealthy politicians, they could even be richer then "Mr Mehboob Ullah Jan". Just a thought.

Yasser | 14 years ago | Reply o teri, against those French revolution is necessary :-D

murassa sanaulla | 14 years ago | Reply it would be better if their tax returns are also publish. this will proof how patriotic are they.

Ali | 14 years ago | Reply will those rich ones help the flood affectees? we have a shortfall of money they have so much money and they can help, we the Pakistani ppl should make these ppl accountable and aware of the difficulties of everyday ppl...

Anzer Husain | 14 years ago | Reply Its a shame on Ayaz Amir! But i appreciate the fact that people with over a billion rupees have atleast declared!

something zeeshan | 14 years ago | Reply great, keep increasing ! Huhhh

Sana | 14 years ago | Reply Shame on Pakistanis for voting for corrupt PPP and PML-N.

Sbk | 14 years ago | Reply No surprises that our legislators posses so much money..........May Allah bless them with a heart also.

Syed Nadir El-Edroos | 14 years ago | Reply Ayaz Amir has no assets? Really? As for the richest lot, can we see their tax returns please?

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