Amid the Panama Papers leak row, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has emerged as one of the richest politicians in Pakistan with a personal asset of Rs. 2 billion, an increase of over a billion in just four years.
The Election Commission released the assets statements of Mr. Sharif for 2015 who as per law update the election body about their wealth. The value of the assets owned by the PM and his spouse comes to Rs. 2 billion — an increase of over a billion in just four years. However, he does not own any property abroad.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sharif bowed to Opposition demands that he ask the chief justice to set up a commission to investigate offshore accounts linked to his family.
The Election Commission said Mr. Sharif received over Rs. 215 million from his son Hussain Nawaz in 2015. He had previously received remittances from his son, worth Rs. 239 million and Rs. 197.5 million in 2014 and 2013 respectively. The Prime Minister is among the few billionaires in the National Assembly, the others being Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lawmakers Khayal Zaman and Sajid Hussain Toori.
The Prime Minister owns a Toyota Land Cruiser, gifted to him by an unspecified individual, as well as two Mercedes vehicles, the Dawn reported. The house he lives in is owned by his mother. He also has multiple foreign and local currency accounts, huge swathes of agricultural land and investments in industrial units such as sugar, textile and paper mills.
He also declared, for the first time, ownership of birds and animals worth Rs. 2 million. — PTI & AP
