Pak financial regulatory agency removes records of Asim Bajwa’s Sons’ companies from website
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Pakistan’s financial regulatory agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), has deleted the records of five of six companies owned by Lt Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa’s family members.
The five firms whose data was removed belonged to Bajwa’s son while one company, whose data remained throughout on the website belonged to his brothers.
However, the five companies’ records were restored on the SECP website after a few weeks. This is a bizarre incident where a government agency is responsible for regulating all firms in Pakistan and its nature of work should not meddle with politics.
SECP Chairman Amir Khan refused to comment when asked if he knew that the records were deleted and whether the person was ordered to do so. “You better contact the chief spokesperson of the SECP and this is the protocol that we follow,” Khan said.
On July 21, the SECP website had the records of companies owned by Bajwa’s sons in Pakistan and other countries. However, during the Eid-ul-Zuha festival, the SECP removed the records of the companies owned by Bajwa’s sons — Muhammad Saleem Bajwa, Eusha Saleem Bajwa and Azib Saleem Bajwa.
Silkline Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd is the sixth company of the Bajwa family, which was listed on the SECP website but its data remained on the site throughout. This was the only company that belonged to Bajwa’s brothers.
In September, Bajwa announced that he will step down as the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) Imran Khan on information and broadcasting following corruption allegations against him.
The development came after an investigative report by Pakistani journalist Ahmed Noorani alleged properties and business worth millions of Bajwa and his close family members in Pakistan and abroad.
The report claimed that Bajwa’s brothers, wife and two sons own a business empire, which has set up 99 companies in four countries including a pizza franchise with 133 restaurants worth an estimated USD 39.9 million.
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