Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan announced on Friday that he would not accept the resignation of his Special Assistant on Information Lt Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa. Bajwa, who is also chairman of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, had earlier said he would continue in that capacity but withdraw from the information portfolio.
His resignation came after a story was published by an online investigative news platform that catalogued the retired general’s rise to riches along with that of his family members.
According to a report published on ‘Fact Focus’, Asim Bajwa’s brothers, wife and two sons “own a business empire which set up 99 companies in four countries, including a pizza franchise with 133 restaurants worth an estimated $39.9 million.”
The report said that out of the 99 companies, 66 are main companies, 33 companies are branch companies of some of the main companies while five companies are dead.
“The Bajwa family’s companies spent an estimated $52.2 million to develop their businesses and $14.5 million to purchase properties in the United States, while Asim Bajwa and his department were encouraging Pakistanis to invest within their relatively undeveloped country,” said the report.
Bajwa announced in a TV program on Thursday that he would resign from his position as Special Assistant while at the same time he denied the allegations made in the news report. But on Friday, prime minister Imran Khan said in a statement that he is satisfied with the evidence and explanation presented by him. Bajwa had accused anti-Pakistan elements of being behind the report.
In what is being described as a related development, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Joint Director Sajid Gondal went missing from Islamabad on Thursday night, his family confirmed on Friday.
Human rights minister Shireen Mazari took notice of the incident and said in a tweet that the police have been directed to register a first information report (FIR).
Local media has speculated, however, that Gondal may have supplied information on General Bajwa’s companies to the reporter who filed the story against him.