Dear son of PM, ‘trying to reach you: Pls return my call’
By Umar Cheema
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
ISLAMABAD: After his father became the prime minister, the assets of Abdul Qadir Gilani, multiplied 10 times within a year, details of his assets declarations have revealed.
Qadir Gilani has purchased an expensive house in Defence Housing Authority Lahore, new bank accounts were opened in no time, land deals were made and massive investment in prize bond business was made, his June 2009 declaration shows.
He owned assets worth Rs8.5 million at the time of 2008 elections but his net wealth shot up to a whopping Rs72 million in June 2009. How much it has grown after June 2009 is anybody’s guess.
Junior Gilani was not in the business of prize bonds before contesting the elections but now intriguingly his only business has been of prize bonds, a business generally done by people wishing to whiten their black money.
Abdul Qadir Gilani neither attended phone call nor responded to text messages sent over his cell phones for a week. “Umar Cheema of The News trying to reach you for version on your assets detail. Please return my call” is the message sent a number of times but to no avail. As this correspondent tried to approach him through Prime Minister Gilani’s spokesman,
Shabbir Anwar, the spokesman instead gave junior Gilani’s private number, that was not attended either nor the messages sent over it responded.
Junior Gilani possessed 50 tolas of gold in 2008, which has increased to 500 tolas in June 2009. He had Rs2.1 million in the bank at the time he contested elections in 2008 but by June 30, 2009 his cash-in-hand had swelled to Rs17 million, according to his sworn disclosure. He also has prize bonds worth Rs2 million.
Not mentioned in his assets details is a multi-million rupee bullet-proof land cruiser, which he says he purchased in 2009. He did not own any house in early 2008 as per his assets declaration submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan. In June 2009 he mentioned purchase of a house in DHA’s Block B, disposing it of and then purchasing another in Y-block for Rs32 million.
Interestingly, his permanent address as shown on the Punjab Assembly website indicates that the apparently sold house of Block-B is still in his possession. He used to own 110 acres of agriculture land in 2008, which increased to 123 acres in June 2009.
Qadir Gilani had accounts in Faysal Bank and Union Bank in 2008, the former without a single penny and the latter having a sum of Rs2.1 million. Now he generally operates through the newly opened account in the National Bank Branch of the Punjab Assembly Branch that is used for drawing salary as provincial assembly member. He keeps cash in hand (as shown in the assets of worth Rs17 million under this head).
Contrary to his bank balance of Rs2.1 million in 2008, now he had just a meagre sum of Rs75,282 in the bank account that could probably be his assembly salary.
His Toyota Surf Model 2002 was worth Rs1.6 million when his father had not become the prime minister. The same vehicle saw its value appreciate to Rs2 million. His furniture articles carried the price tag of Rs300,000 in 2008 which are now worth Rs2 million, according to his declaration.
Qadir Gilani’s land has also registered a dramatic increase. In the 2008 nomination papers, he showed two tracts of land in Rajan Pur and Khairpur (both were gifted). But his June 2009 assets declaration has noted an increase of 23 acres, of which 10 acres were purchased in Rajan Pur.
