The tax returns of top leaders belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) show that some of the leaders did not even bother to declare their annual income, claming they were poor and had nothing to declare. According to the Daily Times, former premier Raja Pervez Ashraf”s annual income of 2012 as Rs 1.9 million in 2012, out of which he paid only Rs 107,247 as taxes – figures that seem incompatible with his living style. Former minister of Capital Administration and Development (CAD) and top leader of the party, Nazar Muhammad Gondal is the “poorest person”. Former federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin and PPP Southern Punjab president is also living in “abject poverty” because of having earned nothing in 2012. Shahabuddin is a landlord of Rahim Yar Khan and has huge landholding in the district. Former National Assembly deputy speaker Faisal Karim Kundi is also a poor person according to his declaration of income. In the income column in the summary of the FBR he did not show earning of a single penny in 2012. Former state minister for information in the PPP government Syed Samsam Ali Bokhari is next in line, and he also did not earn a single penny in 2012, the summary of income and tax returns disclosed. Former federal minister and PPP Central Punjab President Mian Manzoor Wattoo paid just Rs 93, 694 in tax during 2012, with a declared income of just Rs 2.5 million. Noor Alam Khan of the PPP, the richest parliamentarian in the former assembly, paid a meagre amount of Rs 80,284 against earning of Rs 942,612 million during the year 2012. Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, another stalwart of the party, did not possess much in 2012, and paid just Rs 97,190 in tax against almost Rs 5 million income during the year. Former federal minister in the PPP government Syed Naveed Qamar also paid a meagre sum of Rs 94,170 in tax during 2012 against total income of Rs 4 million. (ANI)
