Lawmakers’ assets nearly double in five years

ISLAMABAD: The assets of 1,170 parliamentarians have increased 85% over the past five financial years, according to an investigation conducted by a private TV channel.

The SIU found that all 1,170 members of parliament (including those in the provincial assemblies and both the upper and lower houses) had assets worth around Rs49 billion or around $314 million in 2015. However, by 2019-20, their combined wealth rose to approximately Rs91 billion or $570 million.

The SIU analysed the income of parliamentarians, including the salaries they receive and information from other sources that they get, and scrutinized their tax records submitted to the Federal Board of Revenue, local media reports.

The wealth of the MPs also included assets of their family members who were dependent on them.

The MPs collectively owned wealth and assets worth Rs79.8 billion during tax years 2018-19, increasing by Rs12 billion (15%) to Rs91 billion in 2019-20, noting an average increase of Rs10 million in the wealth of each lawmaker.

The independent assessment was conducted by senior officials from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the political finance wing of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Director General Intelligence and Investigation (IR) and other official sources suggest that the lawmakers hold assets within and outside the country.

The investigation by the SIU also found that some 311 MPs (around 27%) either had investments in private firms or ran their own businesses. Their combined financial worth is around Rs21 billion or $130 million.

Of these 311 lawmakers, 71 had declared that they had disassociated themselves from their businesses after becoming members of Parliament. But their tax records show that they are paying more taxes today compared to their wealth declared with the ECP.

On average, an MP paid approximately Rs1.4 million or around $7,000 in income taxes in 2018-2019.

Collectively, the MPs paid around Rs1.6 billion or $11 million in taxes in the 2018-19 tax year.

However, this ratio fell by 60% in the 2019 tax year, when MPs collectively paid just Rs980 million or $6 million in taxes.

This meant that from paying Rs1.4 million in tax per lawmaker on average, the average fell to just Rs0.8 million.

A review of documents relating to the wealth of 200 key MPs from various parliamentary parties between 2014 and 2019 found that around 25 MPs were declared billionaires, while 71 MPs had assets worth over Rs500 million each.

A closer inspection of documents filed by the lawmakers showed that the wealth or assets of some MPs and their dependents increased exponentially by as much as 300%.

Of these, four dozen MPs saw their wealth and assets increase by over 100% in the past five years, while a dozen parliamentarians saw their wealth rise by 200% to 300% during this time.

Some 29 MPs declared assets worth around Rs5 billion in the UAE, Norway, Denmark, UK, USA, Australia, and Canada.

Nearly 41 MPs declared that they owned assets worth less than Rs1 million each.

Moreover, approximately 111 MPs declared owning assets worth less than Rs10 million.

Official records showed that dozens of MPs were either not paying income tax or were not registered with the tax authorities.

Of the 1,170 elected and appointed lawmakers, as many as 161 MPs did not file their income tax returns.

Over two dozen female MPs owned financial assets linked with their millionaire husbands but were surprisingly not registered as regular taxpayers with the authorities.

Some two dozen women MPs collectively owned assets worth Rs100 million but were not registered with tax authorities as well.

More than 37 MPs who were not registered with FBR had declared assets worth over Rs101 million each.

ECP and FBR also served notices to 70 MPs either whose assets witnessed an unusual increase or there were some serious discrepancies in their declarations.

Some 98 MPs collectively possess assets worth around Rs37 billion, while 12 of them owned assets over Rs500 million each, but were not active taxpayers, records suggested.

A private TV channel evaluated the asset declarations of prominent MPs of 10 leading parliamentary parties in an attempt to learn the facts about this rise in assets.

Arguably Pakistan’s most prominent parliamentarian, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, who has been in the news for his Toshakhana exploits, saw his assets swell by 250% from financial year of 2017 to 2020.

In terms of value, his declared net worth jumped from Rs40 million in 2017 to Rs142 million during the Fiscal Year 2020.