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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has more assets in the United Arab Emirates than in Pakistan and has extended over Rs1.24 billion loan to four companies from the money he inherited from his mother and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto after her assassination.
The total value of his shares in the four companies forms only a small fraction of the amount he has lent to them.
A perusal of his statement of assets submitted with his nomination papers shows that he has lent Rs777.75 million to Tempo Global Growth and has Rs87,513 shares of the company.
Faryal Talpur declares Rs323.17m assets, Dr Azra Fazal in her documents claims to have Rs99.10m assets
Another huge chunk of Rs273.63 million has been provided as loan to Tempo Global Gains — apparently a sister organisation of Tempo Global Growth. Mr Bhutto-Zardari owns 112 shares of Tempo Global Gains.
Likewise, Radiant Investment Services, where his investment in 68 shares has been mentioned as Rs2.77 million, has been given a loan of Rs125.58 million. Another company Royale Properties International has been given a Rs68.55 million loan. He holds 340 shares of the company valuing Rs87,514.
He also lent Rs47.67 million to Victory Enterprises, UK. He owns four company shares worth Rs526.
Besides, he has shares in two villas in Dubai — one of which is situated in Jumairah — but their value has not been mentioned in the statement.
According to his documents, he owns seven watches, 10 sets of jewellery and ornaments, nine sets of cufflinks, and two pet dogs gifted to him by his mother though he has not mentioned cost or value of the items.
Mr Bhutto-Zardari has declared in his nomination papers that he holds a resident visa of the UAE granted to him by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, the UAE.
His paternal aunt Faryal Talpur and her spouse Mir Munawar Ali Talpur also have UAE Iqama, as she has Rs6.50 million business ventures in Sharjah and Mr Talpur has invested around Rs300,000 in Dubai.
In the documents submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan, Mrs Talpur declared that her net assets were valued at Rs323.17 million including arms and ammunition worth Rs283,000.
She has a house in F-8 sector of Islamabad and two houses in Karachi. She also owns one plot each in Gwadar, Lahore and Rawalpindi, and more than 320 acres of agricultural land in Tando Allayar, Sanghar, Nawabshah and Mirpurkhas districts.
Mrs Talpur paid Rs3.83 million agricultural income tax in the financial year closing on June 30, 2017.
She has investments in two rice mills, Asif Apartments, Land Mark, Zardari Group and fuel stations with a total worth of Rs32.92 million. She has three vehicles valued at Rs11.61 million, while her cash holding is more than Rs147.30 million.
At the same time, she has given over Rs30.69 loan against her credit including a personal loan of Rs4.50 million obtained in Dubai.
The net worth of Mr Talpur, who is a candidate himself for the national assembly seat from Mirpurkhas, is Rs45.07 million — far less than that of his wife.
The statement of assets also shows that their daughter, Ayesha Talpur, has more cash and properties than her father. She has Rs128.28 million assets while her younger sister, Fatima Talpur, has cash and owns land worth Rs15.63 million.
Mr Talpur has one ancestral house in Kot Ghulam Mohammad and a plot in Lahore besides agricultural land holdings in Mirpurkhas and Hyderabad. He holds arms and ammunitions worth Rs1.24 million. His farm animals are valued at Rs980,000 and he has three vehicles worth Rs24.45 million.
He keeps around Rs2.15 million cash in hand whereas he has Rs1.89 million in his eight bank accounts besides prize bonds worth Rs4 million.
There is no loan or financial liability on Mr Talpur as per his documents.
The net assets of Dr Azra Fazal, who is wife of senior bureaucrat Dr Fazalullah Pechuho and elder sister of PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari, has reached Rs99.10 million with an increase of Rs9 million in one year.
The documents Dr Azra submitted to the ECP show that she has no stakes outside Pakistan nor does she receive any remittance from abroad. She stated she’s MBBS (MCPS), chancellor of SZABIST, an agriculturalist and a politician.
Dr Azra has significant land and residential plots in Karachi and Islamabad as well as cash holdings. She also owns a tractor valued at Rs1.65 million.
She has Rs14.77 million cash in hand, prize bonds worth Rs8 million and Rs6.48 million in several banks including Rs4,609 in Sindh Bank.
Apart from furniture and other articles of personal use including a generator worth Rs2.18 million she has 40-tola gold jewellery.
Dr Azra has invested Rs3.56 million in apparently family businesses Asif Apartments and Land Mark. She has made Rs23.93 million capital investment in Sujawal Academy.
She has a house in DHA Karachi, an under-construction house in Islamabad, a plot in Gwadar, four-acre industrial plot in Nawabshah, while she has also made payments for two plots in DHA Karachi and one in Islamabad.
She has more than 263-acre agricultural land at seven different areas of Shaheed Benazirabad and Sanghar, giving her an income of Rs8.92 million.
She paid Rs1.30 million agricultural income tax in the fiscal year 2016-17. Her income from other sources was Rs15.70 million in the same year when she paid Rs480,905 income tax.
Dr Pechuho, too, has no interests in any other country. His net worth is Rs28.39 million, including four vehicles worth more than Rs90 million.
He has cash in hand, bank balance and prize bonds valued at around Rs7 million.
He has three tractors, a farm house and agricultural land in Nawabshah and Sanghar districts, residential plot in DHA Karachi and shares in ancestral house in Sukkur.
Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2018
