(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan declining to state the market value of most of his agricultural land has declared very low purchase costs.
Islamabad: In yet another display of political cynicism prominent lawmakers once again filed asset declarations with the Election Commission of Pakistan that excluded current market values of their assets or details of companies they own rendering the entire exercise moot. Most politicians appear to have taken advantage of the glaring loopholes in the law that do not specify the manner in which these declarations are supposed to be made. The result is a laughably inaccurate picture of politicians’ wealth that do not match their lifestyles at all.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan declining to state the market value of most of his agricultural land has declared very low purchase costs. The Sharif family declared how much land they own how much they bought it for and how much it is currently worth.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for instance declared his and his wife’s combined net worth to be around Rs2 billion making him among the wealthiest of lawmakers. The prime minister’s declarations of assets included details of their real estate in Pakistan but did not include specifics of the value of the shares in the companies he and his wife own which constitute the bulk of their net worth. Nor did the prime minister declare any assets abroad though his wife mentioned receiving two remittances totaling close to $2.5 million from her son Hussain Nawaz.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and son Hamza declared the value of their assets separately as members of the Punjab Assembly. Shahbaz declared the current market value of his real estate holdings both in Pakistan as well as London. He and his two wives collectively have a net worth of Rs417 million. His son Hamza appears to own the bulk of the family’s shares in the companies they manage. Hamza was one of the few lawmakers who included a value of his corporate holdings (Rs130 million) thought is unclear if the amounts declared are book values market values or simply cost prices. Hamza’s total declared net worth is just shy of Rs303 million.
Shahbaz and his spouses are also the richest among the chief ministers though on an individual basis Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Parvaiz Khattak is richer than Shahbaz with a net worth of Rs262 million. In a declaration nearly 70 per cent of Khattak’s assets are in Punjab real estate including a Rs146 million mall under construction in Rawalpindi.
Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah claims to be the poorest among the provincial heads of government with a net worth of Rs19.4 million lower than even Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch who declared a net worth of Rs30 million. Shah’s declarations include the laughable assertion that the house he owns on Khayaban-e-Mujahid in DHA Phase-5 Karachi is worth Rs3.2 million. Similar properties are listed on real estate websites for values of around Rs100 million. He also claims to not own a vehicle. Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah declared a total net worth of Rs22 million whereas MQM parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar claimed to have assets worth only Rs3 million.
Under the existing provisions of the law every member of National Assembly Senate and provincial assemblies has to declare the assets of themselves their spouse and all the dependent children. Section 42A of the Representation of Peoples Act binds the lawmakers to declare their assets but it does not elaborate any mechanism to verify the claims of these politicians. The law also prescribes punishments for those who try to cheat. But in the absence of any mechanism to verify the stated claims of lawmakers the ECP only publishes them every year.
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