Zaradri, no gifts from Malik Riaz: TIP

The Transparency International Pakistan on Thursday requested President Asif Ali Zardari to not accept the Rs5 billion ‘bullet-proof house’ built on over 200 kanals in Bahria Town, Lahore, by real estate tycoon Malik Riaz as a gift as doing so on his part may be perceived as a political bribe.

TIP office bearer Syed Adil Gilani in a letter to Salman Faruqi, Secretary-General to President Zardari said that in accordance with the rules and instructions relating to the Conduct of Government Servants (Conduct) Rules 1964, the house should not be accepted as a gift. Mr Gilani quoted Section 5(I) which reads: “Gifts. (i) Save as otherwise provided in this rule, no government servant shall, except with the previous sanction of the government, accept, or permit any member of his family to accept, from any person any gift the receipt of which will place him under any form of official obligation to the donor. If, however, due to very exceptional reasons, a gift cannot be refused, the same may, under intimation to the Cabinet Division, be kept for official use in the department or organisation in which he is working.”

The TIP added that rumors doing rounds that the house had been accepted as a gift by Zardari from Riaz had not been denied by the presidency, which, meant that the rumors were true. The president was advised that if he is not in a position to refuse the house, he should transfer the ownership of the house in the name of the “Government of Pakistan”.
Mr Gilani concluded that “Transparency International Pakistan is striving to have transparency in procedures and rule of law in Pakistan, which is the only way to eliminate corruption and have good governance in the country.”

Copy of the letter has also been sent to the chairmen of the Public Accounts Committee and the NAB, the finance minister and the registrar of the Supreme Court.