The credibility of statements of assets and liabilities of lawmakers can be judged from the fact that the total worth of the assets and bank accounts of PML-N MNA Anjum Aqeel Khan, as declared to the ECP in 2010, is around Rs 320 million, whereas he paid Rs 5.8 billion to FIA in National Police Foundation land scam a few weeks ago to settle the corruption case against him. The total worth of Khan’s immovable property within Pakistan as stated in the ECP record stands at Rs 300 million. The total value of his business capital within Pakistan is Rs 9 million and he has Rs 8.5 million cash in hand and bank accounts.
One wonders how a person with total worth of around Rs 320 million pay Rs 5,800 million in cash and kind to get a fraud case lodged against him discarded.
In February, the PML-N MNA in a written undertaking to a FIA team in Lahore agreed to pay a sum of Rs 5.8 billion to NPF in cash or kind after his confession before an FIA joint investigation team that he had caused huge financial losses to the National Police Foundation as its real estate broker through his company M/S Land Linkers. Earlier in January, a confidential official inquiry report, which was submitted to Federal Interior Secretary Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, said Khan was involved in a six-billion-rupee land fraud in which he was aided by four former NPF officials. Talking to Pakistan Today, former secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan, Kanwar Dilshad admitted that the lawmakers used to conceal facts while submitting statements of their assets and liabilities to the ECP.
“An individual can file a case in the court of district and session judge against any such lawmaker on the charges of corrupt practices. Even SCBA and LHCBA can also approach courts under various sections of Representation of People’s Act 1976,” he said. When told about Khan’s case, he said it was a fit case for trial, as it indicated that either he had concealed some of his assets from the ECP or mentioned incorrect value of his declared assets. He said the ECP had no authority under existing laws to initiate legal action against such lawmakers who concealed facts, “but now the ECP is demanding such powers in new election reforms laws being considered by parliament”.
Khan said he had not concealed assets from the ECP. “The dispute between me and NPF was on the land and I have returned the disputed land to NPF…….There is no mention of worth of land or any amount in the case which was maliciously framed against me, therefore, it is baseless that I paid Rs 5.8 billion in cash or kind to NPF,” he added.
