ISLAMABAD: A week after a Pakistani website reported that retired Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa had used his offices to set up off-shore businesses for his wife, sons and brothers, the powerful general said on Thursday he was stepping down as the prime minister’s special adviser on information.
Bajwa currently holds two positions in Pakistan: special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM) on information and broadcasting, and chairman of the authority that oversees energy and infrastructure projects under the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Before retirement from the military, Bajwa served in many powerful positions, including as head of the army’s media wing.
“I strongly rebut the baseless allegations levelled against me and my family,” he said in a tweet. “I have and will always serve Pakistan with pride and dignity.”
I strongly rebut the baseless allegations levelled against me and my family.Alhamdolillah another attempt to damage our reputation belied/exposed.I have and will always serve Pakistan with pride and dignity. pic.twitter.com/j185UoGhx1
— Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimSBajwa) September 3, 2020
Speaking on a current affairs show on Geo News, Bajwa said he would hand in his resignation for the post of special aide on information to Prime Minister Khan today, Friday, but would continue working as CPEC Authority chairman.
“I hope that the prime minister will allow me to concentrate all my focus on CPEC,” Bajwa said.
The report on Bajwa’s family assets, published on data journalism website FactFocus and backed by a data dump of company documents, said Bajwa’s younger brothers opened their first Papa John’s pizza restaurant in the United States in 2002, the year he, as lieutenant colonel, started working on the staff of military ruler General Pervez Musharraf.
The general’s brother Nadeem Bajwa, the website alleged, had started working as a delivery driver for the restaurant franchise but now Nadeem, his other brothers and Bajwa’s wife and sons, owned a business empire with 99 companies in four countries, including a pizza franchise with 133 restaurants worth an estimated $39.9 million.
The report said the Bajwa family companies spent an estimated $52.2 million to develop their businesses and $14.5 million to purchase properties in the United States.
The news report also said Bajwa’s wife Farrukh Zeba had been a shareholder in all foreign businesses of the group from the start and at present was associated with or a shareholder in 85 companies, including 82 foreign companies. The estimated current net worth of businesses and properties jointly owned by Zeba stood at $52.7 million, according to the website.
In his statements of assets and liabilities signed in June when he took over as special assistant to the prime minister, Bajwa had declared an investment of $18,468 in his wife’s name and said the couple had no “immovable property” outside Pakistan.
The government has not commented yet if it will seek action or an investigation into the allegations against Bajwa but the official Twitter account of Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party tweeted on Friday: “We are proud of PM Imran Khan’s SAPM @AsimSBajwa for providing a befitting response to the critics.”
We are proud of PM Imran Khan’s SAPM @AsimSBajwa for providing a befitting response to the critics. #عاصم_باجوہ_سرخرو https://t.co/RBiLq6Qb8r
— PTI (@PTIofficial) September 3, 2020
Imran Khan Khan won power in 2018 vowing to root out corruption among what he cast as a venal elite but the focus of the country’s national anti-corruption authority (NAB) so far on the government’s political foes has prompted accusations it is a one-sided purge. The government denies this.
Since Khan assumed power in August 2018, NAB has continued investigating jailed former Prime Minister Sharif, who has alleged a hidden hand is behind many of the anti-corruption cases against his family. Sharif’s third term as prime minister ran from 2013 to 2017, when he was removed the Supreme Court amid revelations over his personal wealth. He was subsequently convicted of corruption.
Fresh probes have also been opened involving Sharif’s brother, daughter and many of his closest allies, including at least eight ministers from the previous government. They all deny wrongdoing and say they are victims of persecution.
