ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi on Saturday shared the tax statements of a property in New York which he claims is owned by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
He took to his Twitter account to share pictures of “the latest property tax bills of 524 East 72 Street, Apartment 37F New York,” adding that the documents are under Asif Ali Zardari’s name.
Just for clarity’s sake… attached are the latest property tax bills of 524 East 72 street, Apt 37F, NY, NY 10021
Bills are all in the name of Asif Ali Zardari.@khurram2004 more info for your petition pic.twitter.com/SkePGurEKo— Ali Haider Zaidi (@AliHZaidiPTI) December 22, 2018
Zaidi in his tweet said, “Just for clarity’s sake… attached are the latest property tax bills of 524 East 72 street, Apt 37F, NY, NY 10021 Bills are all in the name of Asif Ali Zardari. @khurram2004 more info for your petition.”
Earlier this week, PTI Sindh MPA Khurram Sher Zaman and Firdous Shamim Naqvi had filed an application with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Karachi, seeking Zardari’s disqualification from the Parliament for concealment of assets stating.
According to the petition, “Zardari had failed to declare an apartment he allegedly owns in the US, in his nomination form for the 2018 general elections.”
Following this, the Provincial Election Commissioner Muhammad Yousaf Khan Khattak maintained that only ECP’s headquarters in Islamabad could take an action over it.
On December 20, the PTI minister had tweeted that the alleged sale deed of the apartment which mentioned the PPP leader as the grantee/buyer.
Earlier on Friday, PPP had decided to move the court against PTI’s “fake claim” pertaining to former president Asif Ali Zardari’s alleged ownership of an apartment in New York.
On Thursday, PTI had moved a reference in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking disqualification of the PPP co-chairman for not declaring an apartment that he owns in the United States in his nomination papers for 2018 general elections.
Talking to media, PPP leader Latif Khosa had said that it is agenda of the government to arrest all leaders of the opposition and send them to jail. He added that Zardari’s property in the USA was sold 20 years ago and he now owns no property there.
Slamming the PTI government, he said that the government has deprived the citizens of their jobs instead of providing a respectable source of income.
He asserted that the government had promised to provide 5 million houses to the homeless people but they are demolishing instead of building houses for the needy.
The reference against Zardari was filed by PTI MPA Khurram Sher Zaman, requesting the election watchdog to disqualify the former head of state as a member of the National Assembly for concealing an apartment he allegedly owns in Belaire Condominiums located at 524 East 72nd Street, New York, New York, USA, in his nomination form for the 2018 general elections.
A document submitted with the application showed Zardari as having an address at 524 East 72nd Street, New York, New York. A second document purported to show that one Ms Mehreen Shah was granted the power of attorney for the condo unit by Zardari. The veracity of the documents could not be independently confirmed.
“This serious violation of the law needs to be examined by you since Mr Zardari is a former president of Pakistan and co-chairs one of the major political parties of this country,” the application read.
The PTI lawmaker had urged the ECP to investigate the matter, “and if proven true and accurate”, disqualify and de-seat Zardari as an MNA under Article 62 (1)(f).
