A journalist namely Waqas has shared the ‘documentary evidence’ of former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari allegedly possessing a foreign property as a flat in New York.
In a Twitter thread, Waqas write, “ECP today released asset declarations of Pakistani politicians according to which Asif Ali Zardari does not own any assets abroad. In this thread, I will share documentary evidence from the State of New York showing that he does, in fact, own property here.”
BREAKING, EXCLUSIVE:
ECP today released asset declarations of Pakistani politicians according to which Asif Ali Zardari does not own any assets abroad. In this thread i will share documentary evidence from the State of New York showing that he does, in fact, own property here. pic.twitter.com/FfjpopYuYD— Waqas (@worqas) June 23, 2022
“PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari owned Rs1.6 billion assets in 2021, with a bank balance of over Rs120 million. While the PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari owns assets worth Rs710 million, while he does not have any overseas assets.”
The journalist claimed that the PPP co-chairman had obtained a mortgage of $496,875.00 to buy a single residential condo unit at 527 East 72nd Street, New York City on June 9, 2007. ‘Asif Ali Zardari obtained this property at the full sale price of $530,000 as is clear from the deed he obtained on 12th June 2007.’
“By 2011, while he was the President of Pakistan, he had paid off his mortgage to Wells Fargo Bank – this was for the same property – 524 East 72 street, New York. By 2015, after he had stepped down as President of Pakistan, he was so happy with this property that he decided to obtain a parking space for $45,000 and was paying taxes on the parking space.”
Waqas wrote, “Last year, Asif Ali Zardari was questioned about this apartment but he responded with a blatant lie: “I had sold out the apartment the same year I purchased it”. But as you can see from the documents, he was buying parking spaces for the apartment in 2015!”
“Asif Ali Zardari has given the power of attorney of this property to someone names Mehreen Shah. Who is she? There are no records to show that this property has been sold to anyone else. According to New York City records, Asif Ali Zardari still owns this property – yet he has not included it in his asset declarations. Why? Cuz he cant provide money trail.”
“This isn’t even a big property, as far as NYC real estate goes. But the point is, even this small thing he would not like to admit, declare, and present to scrutiny. Nowadays politicians don’t own things on their name, they make trusts and offshore holding companies.”
“This is just the tail of an elephant. Its obvious, its blatant. Yet ECP will not do anything, NAB will not do anything, the neutrals will not do anything. Pakistan is a banana republic where the law is a joke. In 1999, the US Senate held hearings on private banking and money laundering. Senator Carl Levin said Citibank “has had a rogues’ gallery of private bank clients” and listed Zardari as one of those rogues.”
“But in 2011, the same Senator Carl Levin that called Asif Ali Zardari a corrupt rogue meets “President Zardari” in Islamabad. Corrupt rogue became useful? What do they have on him? How does one become a useful instrument of regime change?”
“What is Asif Zardari’s relationship with Imaad Zuberi, who used to arrange his ‘official visits’ to the US and was later convicted for illegal lobbying? Imaad Zuberi is an extremely shady character. He was “was sentenced in February 2020 to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion, foreign-influence peddling and campaign-finance violations.”
“Zardari is such a good guy that he paid taxes on this property this year too. Civic responsibility. But only outside Pakistan. Inside Pakistan he claims he sold this property in 2007.”