Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari declared the cost of his Karachi residence to be a mere Rs 3 million in the nomination papers for 2018 general elections.
Earlier this month, while listing his assets before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the PPP chief showed the cost of Bilawal House in Karachi’s Clifton area at only Rs3 million – a figure that did not go unnoticed as social media users raised question marks over the value of the expansive residence.
However, PPP leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar on Monday defended party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari against the objection. He clarified that the party chairman declared the correct value of assets as required by the tax authorities.
Khokhar, who also serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Human Rights, told Hamid Mir that Section 116 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 stipulates that all taxpayers declare their assets at cost (the value at the time of purchase).
The PPP chairman inherited Bilawal House in 1990 as a gift from his mother, late Benazir Bhutto. Khokhar pointed out that the property was valued at Rs3 million at that time.
He added that Bilawal has declared all his wealth in the tax forms.
Bilawal will formally begin his political career by contesting for Lyari’s NA-246 and NA-200 (Larkana-I).