ECP releases assets details of five caretaker federal ministers

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan released on Tuesday assets details of five of eight members of the interim federal cabinet. 

So far, it seems caretaker information and law minister, Barrister Ali Zafar, is the richest cabinet member with total assets worth more than Rs283.8 million.

Zafar, who has also remained the Supreme Court Bar Association president, owns vehicles worth more than Rs19.5 million and possesses bank balance of over Rs111.5 million.

With regards to properties, the interim minister owns three apartments in Dubai and a house in London and Birmingham each.

His wife also owns assets worth over Rs15.9 million and 150 tolas in gold.

In the documents submitted to the ECP, Zafar has also shown mortgaged assets worth over Rs31 million.

Similarly, Interim Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar's total assets have been shown to be worth more than Rs40 million. 

Dr Akhtar, who served as the head of the State Bank of Pakistan from 2006-2009, owns three houses in Islamabad and one in Karachi — with the properties valued at more than Rs2.8 million. 

She has also disclosed possession of savings certificates worth Rs27.7 million and investment in PSO and a private bank worth Rs2.2 million. 

Dr Akhtar also owns Rs7.2 million in her bank account and gold worth Rs200,000.

Interim Interior Minister Azam Khan owns assets worth over Rs14.5 million. He owns a house in Peshawar and two plots worth Rs6.5 million. 

Moreover, Khan, a retired bureaucrat who served as the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary, has declared himself as a partial owner of Charsadda Sugar Mill, Premier Sugar Mill Mardan and Premier Board Mill Mardan. 

The minister's wife is shown to be the owner of a one-kanal residential plot worth Rs3 million along with over Rs600,000 worth of gold. 

Both husband and wife also possess Rs4.3 million in bank accounts.

Abdullah Hussain Haroon, the caretaker foreign minister, has shown his Karachi home as his ancestral inheritance in the documents submitted to the ECP. 

The minister, who served as Pakistan's permanent representative in the UN in the last Pakistan Peoples Party government, owns 25 acres in Jasemabad, Sindh and has shown an investment of Rs1.7 million and possession of 50 tolas gold.

Moreover, Haroon, who hails from a prominent business family of Sindh, owns a Toyota Land Cruiser worth Rs9 million and a Mercedes worth Rs2.8 million, along with a bank balance of Rs4.8 million.

Meanwhile, education minister Mohammad Yousaf Sheikh owns total assets worth over Rs23.4 million. 

The former army major and college principar has shown a bank balance of over Rs5.47 million and ownership of one house and four plots in Karachi and a plot in Dadu. 

The minister also owns agriculture land in Larkana and Thatta, with his total property valued at over Rs18.3 million. 

The ECP is yet to release the details of ministers Roshan Khursheed Bharucha (HR/Safron/Kashmir and GB affairs), Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman (commerce/industries) and Lieutenant General (retd) Khalid Naeem Lodhi (defence/aviation).

On June 27, President Mamnoon Hussain administered oath to Rehman and Lodhi, after having done the same to the six-member cabinet on June 5. 

The caretaker cabinet will serve until a new government is formed after the July 25 general election.

Interim PM's assets 

On June 19, the ECP issued details of Caretaker Prime Minister Nasir-ul-Mulk. 

The former Supreme Court chief justice owns 14 properties to his name in Pakistan, including plots of one kanal each in Islamabad's sectors D-15 and G-14, a two-kanal plot worth Rs11 million in Bahria Enclave and an apartment worth Rs22 million in Diplomatic Enclave of the capital. 

Besides, Mulk’s wife possesses properties worth $714,286 in Singapore and £272,850 in London, investment worth $722,590, jewellery worth Rs3.1 million, furniture of Rs6.5 million, more than Rs100 million in four different bank accounts and mortgage of $380,363 on properties.

Assets of caretaker CMs

Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Fazlur Rehman is the richest among all four caretaker chief ministers, according to the asset details issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan this Sunday.

Rehman declared assets worth Rs130.575 million.

Meanwhile, Caretaker Balochistan Chief Minister Alaud Din Marri has declared assets worth over Rs4.8 million, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Justice (retd) Dost Muhammad Khan holds total assets worth Rs47.15 million and Punjab's caretaker chief minister, Professor Hasan Askari, has shown Rs24.8 million worth of assets.