The Pakistani
Minister (2k+ posts)
BAJWA FAMILY BUSINESS EMPIRE GREW IN FOUR COUNTRIES IN SYNC WITH ASIM BAJWA’S RISE IN MILITARY
Asim declared on oath his wife has no ‘business capital outside Pakistan’
The growth of the Bajwa family’s business empire in the United States and later in Pakistan directly matches the rise in power of retired general Asim Saleem Bajwa, who is now chairman of the country’s massive China-financed infrastructure project and a special assistant to the prime minister.
Asim Bajwa’s younger brothers opened their first Papa John’s pizza restaurant in 2002, the year he went to work for General Pervez Musharraf as a lieutenant colonel on the military dictator’s staff.
Nadeem Bajwa, 53, who started as a delivery driver for the pizza restaurant franchise, his brothers and Asim Bajwa’s wife and sons now 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. Out of total 99 companies, 66 are main companies, 33 companies are branch companies of some of the main companies while five companies are dead now.
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. The businesses of the Bajwa family through different companies were named as Bajco Group.
Asim Bajwa’s sons joined the Bajco Group companies in 2015 and also started establishing new companies independent of the Bajco Group in Pakistan and in the United States after he became director general of ISPR and commander of the Southern Command.
Asim’s wife was a shareholder in all the foreign businesses from the very beginning. At present, Asim’s wife, Farrukh Zeba, is associated with or is a shareholder in 85 companies including 82 foreign companies (71 in United States, seven in UAE and four in Canada). The records of US state governments and other records related to companies show that some of these American companies (all jointly owned by Asim’s wife Farrukh Zeba) also have investments in real estate sector and own some thirteen commercial properties in the United States including two shopping centers. Estimated current net worth of businesses and properties of these companies jointly owned by Farrukh Zeba stands at $52.7 million.
In his declaration of assets and liabilities signed in June as special assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Asim Bajwa declared an investment of $18,468 (rupees 3.1 million) in his wife’s name. Asim declared that he and his wife have no “Immovable Property Held outside Pakistan”. Asim also categorically declared that neither he nor his wife have any “Business Capital outside Pakistan”. If in his declaration, Asim wanted to declare his wife’s investments in United States by writing Rs3.1 million in the column of “Investments”, he could never have written word “NIL” in the specific column “Business Capital Outside Pakistan”. Asim Bajwa, 57, is also now the chairman of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Family Background:
The six Bajwa brothers and their three sisters came from a middle-class family in a small town in Southern Punjab that was struck by tragedy while they were still young.
Their father, Muhammad Saleem Bajwa, a medical doctor, started as a government employee in early 1950s and then in 1960 joined Millat Hospital, a small private hospital in Sadikabad. Bajwa was shot to death on Nov. 25, 1976 while traveling on a Karachi express train.
His family’s assets at the time of his death included a few acres of agricultural land, a house in Sadiqabad, shares in a pharmaceutical company, and some shops in the city. Their father’s brother had to help them pay for family expenses.
The two eldest sons, Tanvir and Taloot went on to become doctors like their father and practiced in different cities of Punjab. The third son, Asim joined the army in 1984. Two brothers Nadeem and Faisal came to the United States in the early 1990s after completing their education from Punjab University in Lahore. The youngest brother, Abdul Malik, 49, went to the U.S. in 2002.
Management of worldwide businesses through a parent company:
In 2007, a few months after Asim Bajwa’s promotion to brigade rank by the military dictator, the Bajco companies were brought under the umbrella of one parent company, Bajco Global Management LLC, which was registered in the United States and Pakistan (liaison office). The official documents of this parent company show that Asim Bajwa’s wife, Farrukh Zeba, is an equal shareholder in the businesses of Bajco Group along with his five brothers. Farrukh Zeba is a housewife with no known business experience.
Fact Focus Database of 99 Companies Set up by Bajwa family along with all the relevant documents
Asim declined to respond to Fact Focus when asked through different WhatsApp messages and a Twitter post if there are any bank accounts maintained in the name of his wife in the United States, and why he declared that he and his wife have no business capital outside Pakistan.
The changing websites
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the organization which regulates companies in Pakistan, started deleting data of companies owned by the sons of Asim Bajwa from its official website after Fact Focus started this investigation. Fact Focus has maintained dated digital footprints of the record tempering by SECP.
In first week of August, Bajco Group website bajco.net went offline and later came online with a new interface and data. In the previous version of the website, the Bajco Group showed only 58 franchises of Papa John’s pizza restaurants in the U.S. and Canada and was not showing its investments in real estate. After questions about the assets were raised on social media and from Fact Focus, the Bajco Group started updating the website and partially revealed its real estate holdings publicly for the first time. Fact Focus is releasing complete details of all real estate properties acquired so far by the Bajco Group.
https://factfocus.com/politics/1756/
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