Fact-check: Petrol, official cars were given to former CM Parvez Elahi’s political assistants

14 political assistants of the chief minister, out of a total of 117, were provided official vehicles, petrol and car maintenance allowances and drivers

Politician Moonis Elahi has alleged on social media that the 117 political assistants, appointed by former chief minister of Punjab Parvez Elahi, had worked in “honorary capacity” and no money from the public exchequer was spent on them.

The claim is false.

Claim

On January 29, a journalist tweeted that Parvez Elahi had appointed 117 political assistants between August 5, 2022 to January 4, 2023.

In response to the journalist’s tweet, Moonis Elahi, the former federal minister and Parvez Elahi’s son, wrote on the microblogging website: “All political assistants appointed by him were in honorary capacity. Zero was the exact amount given to them from the exchequer.”

His tweet has received over 214,000 views and 858 retweets, at the time of writing.

Fact

Moonis Elahi’s claim is false.

14 political assistants, out of a total of 117, were provided official vehicles, petrol and car maintenance allowances and drivers, confirmed officials of two separate wings of the Punjab government’s Services and General Administration Department, which had issued the notifications during Parvez Elahi’s tenure as chief minister.

An official at the implementation and coordination wing and another at the transport wing, who asked not to be identified, confirmed to Geo Fact Check at their offices that of 117 political assistants appointed by Elahi, 14 were provided cars from the government pool.

The political assistants, who were doled out vehicles were: Irfan Ahsan, Shakeel Atta Ullah Virk, Muhammad Zulfiqar, Malik Haq Nawaz, Zulfiqar Ali Ghuman, Zain Ali Bhatti, Safia Javed, Amjad Mehmood Chaudhry, Arif Gondal, Samina Khawar Hayat, Zubair Ahmed Khan, Liaqat Gondal, Amir Nawaz and Umar Iftikhar.

Geo Fact Check has seen the official document regarding the cars.

Below is the list of the vehicles the assistants were given:

Sr. No. 

MakeModelCC Deployment
1Toyota Corolla, Grande20171800Irfan Ahsan 
2Toyota Corolla, GLI
20181300Shakeel Atta Ullha Virk
3Toyota Corolla, GLI
20171300
Muhammad Zulfiqar
4Toyota Corolla, GLI
20171300
Haq Nawaz 
5Toyota Corolla, GLI
20161300
Zulfiqar Ali Ghuman
6Toyota Corolla, GLI
20171300
Zain Ali Bhatti
7Toyota Corolla, GLI
20181300
Safia Javed 
8Toyota Corolla, XLI
2018
1300
Amjad Mehmood 
9Toyota Corolla, GLI
2018
1300
Ch. Arif Gondal 
10Toyota Corolla, Altis
2018
1800Samina Khawar Hayat
11 Toyota Corolla, XLI
2018
1300
Zubair Ahmed Khan
12 Toyota Corolla, GLI
2018
1300
Liaqat Gondal
13Toyota Corolla, Grande
20221800
Amir Nawaz 
14Toyota Corolla, Grande
2018
1800
Umar Iftikhar

Moreover, these 14 political assistants were provided 200 liters monthly petrol with car maintenance allowance and a driver, confirmed an official, who used to work closely with former chief minister Parvez Elahi.

While those who were members of the Punjab assembly (MPAs), as well as political assistants, were given 250 liters per month petrol.

“Of the 14 cars given to the political assistants, only five have been returned to the government till now,” the official of the transport wing revealed.

All 117 political assistants were de-notified on January 25, soon after a new chief minister Mohsin Naqvi took office.

The names of the 117 men and women who were made political assistants to the former chief minister are below. This document has been confirmed by the department. 


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