Former President and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s undeclared flat in Manhattan, New York is talk of the town these days. Many PPP stalwarts have so far come out in defense of their leader and rubbished these news.
Saeed Ghani, the party’s Sindh provincial minister and an outspoken figure contended that Mr. Zardari had served as President of Pakistan and he knew best about the importance of asset declaration.
However, reacting to People’s Party criticism, PTI leader, Ali Haider Zaidi posted an alleged property deed of former President’s flat in Manhattan.
The document is dated 20th June, 2007, and it lists Asif A. Zardari as the buyer of the property.
According to the document, the said flat is situated at 524 EAST 72ND STREET in Manhattan and is of type Single Residential Condo Unit.
The ruling party of Tehreek e Insaf has filed a reference against Mr. Zardari based on this evidence. PTI’s Khurrum Sher Zaman submitted his request for disqualification of Zardari from his NA-213 seat for concealing his asset in his nomination papers before election commission.
It remains to be seen what plea Asif Ali Zardari takes in response to PTI’s reference against him. If he accepts this flat as his own, then he gets trapped in misdeclaration case from ECP which can lead to his de-seating from his NA-213 seat.
However, if he denies ownership of this flat and later it is proved that he indeed owns it, then it might lead to Article 62, 63 proceeding against him.