Islamabad, May 15: Amid the Dubai Property Leaks revelations naming PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his siblings, and PML-N president Nawaz Sharif’s son among 17,000 Pakistanis, who are collectively reported to possess around 23,000 properties in Dubai, with an estimated value of $11 billion, former information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has called for a probe into the details.
Chaudhry, a former senior member of the Pakistan Tehreek e-Insaaf party, on Wednesday called for an investigation into the Dubai Property Leaks during an interaction with reporters following his appearance before a court.
Fawad said that the Supreme Court should take notice of the leaks, Dubai Unlocked, as a substantial amount of $11 billion was lying abroad.
In an indirect reference to the Sharifs and Bhuttos, Fawad remarked that wherever there was a financial scandal, it was likely that two influential Pakistani families would appear in those lists.
Referring to the Panama Papers leaks in April 2016, which revealed the involvement of Nawaz Sharif’s family in owning offshore companies and properties abroad, Fawad highlighted that this new disclosure was particularly damaging for the PTI founder, Imran Khan, as he often spoke against corruption and the corrupt.
Meanwhile, in the wake of an astounding volume of leaked data regarding properties owned by foreigners in Dubai, some of the Pakistani politicians named in it have downplayed the development, claiming that there was nothing wrong with the practice and that properties under their name were already declared.
The released data provides a detailed overview of hundreds of thousands of properties in Dubai and information about their ownership or usage, largely from 2020 and 2022. It was obtained by the Center for Advanced Defence Studies (C4ADS), a non-profit organisation based in Washington, D.C., that researches international crime and conflict.
Prominent names include PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, his siblings Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari; wife of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Ms Ashraf; Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon; MNA Ikhtiar Baig; son of PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, Hussain Nawaz; son of General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa, Saad Siddique Bajwa; Senator Faisal Vawda, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, Akhtar Mengal and PML-N MNA Ehsanul Haq Bajwa.
The PPP said there was “nothing new or illegal” in the information since its chairman’s assets were already publicly declared — a sentiment echoed by other politicians as well.
Bilawal’s spokesperson Zulfikar Ali Bader said that the former foreign minister and Aseefa had already declared all their domestic and foreign property with the Election Commission of Pakistan and Federal Board of Revenue.
He added that the information was available on the ECP website as well.
“There is nothing new or illegal in this story. Apparently, this is neither news nor a scandal as the information is already in the public domain,” Bader said.
He said it was public information that the two siblings had grown up in exile and lived in the same property mentioned in the report with their mother, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, going on to inherit it after her assassination.
“Any action or insinuation based on defamation will be challenged in the relevant forums,” Bader warned.
