Farah Khan and family's fortune ballooned during PTI tenure: report

• Documents suggest that exponential growth of Farah and her husband's assets don't match with declared sources of income.
• The couple was not the luckiest one as Farah’s sister, Musarrat Khan, was also found in possession of 18 residential plots, says news report.
• Report suggests Ahsan Iqbal Jameel's father was also a beneficiary of couple's growing fortune.

ISLAMABAD: Farhat Shahzadi, better known as Farah Khan, and her family's riches ballooned during the PTI tenure, The News reported Tuesday, citing documents that revealed that Farah and her husband, Ahsan Iqbal Jameel, exchanged gifts and loans worth millions of rupees in the said period.

The documents suggest that the exponential growth of the assets does not correspond to the declared source(s) of income and both Khan and Jameel were the alleged beneficiaries of scheme for whitening black money during PTI's stint in power.

The husband and wife had declared Rs20 million and Rs328.7 million respectively, under the Tax Amnesty Scheme 2019.

The two were not the only luckiest people whose assets grew exponentially as Farah’s sister, Musarrat Khan was also found in possession of 15 residential plots (five marla each) in the Lahore Development Authority City and three residential plots (two kanal each) in Defence Housing Authority, Lahore, which she bought during PTI regime.

Musarrat had received Rs84 million in foreign remittances in two years despite having declared no assets or business abroad. Musarrat Khan told The News all her assets had been declared with the tax authorities and all her sources of income were legitimate.

The News investigation also reveals that Farah Khan’s father-in-law Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, who publicly disassociates himself from Farah Khan and Ahsan Jameel, was also a beneficiary of their growing fortune.

Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal got a 248 kanal (31 acres) of precious land in Gujranwala from his grandson in 2020, which according to Chaudhry Muhamad Iqbal values Rs10 million per marla. Apart from the 31 acre gift, Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal's assets had also increased by almost Rs100 million during the period when Imran Khan was in the government. Chaudhry Iqbal, however, told The News the gifted land was actually inherited one which his grandson had returned to him.

A few weeks ago, Ahsan Jameel in an interview with Shehzad Iqbal at Geo News had categorically denied receiving any commission on transfers and postings of bureaucrats in Punjab during the PTI government. He claimed their assets had increased because they had a prosperous business and they belonged to a landlord family. He had also confirmed owning 19 vehicles but none of them was declared with the tax authorities except two payments for a Porsche.

The documents reveal that the assets and lifestyle of both Farah Khan and her husband do not match their declared means of income.

Ahsan Jameel had not filed tax returns for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. In 2020, he had declared Rs217 million in assets out of which Rs57 million were declared as business capital. Whereas his assets had increased to Rs248 million of which Rs70 million were declared as business capital.

The assets of Farah Khan, on the other hand, had grown exponentially from Rs231 million in 2017 to Rs971 million in 2021. Similarly, the assets of Ahsan’s father and Farah’s sister had also increased during the PTI government.

Farah’s brother Shafique Khan had not filed tax returns like most of Ahsan Jameel’s family members. According to the documents, Ahsan Jameel had gifted Rs50 million to his wife Farah Khan in 2020 and he had also lent Rs145 million to her during the same year.

The source of funds of Rs195 million was, however, not mentioned. Similarly, Ahsan had received Rs79 million as a gift, however, no source of funds was mentioned in the record. In 2021, Farah Khan had also lent an amount of Rs21.2 million to her brother Shafique Khan.

Shafique, however, had not filed tax returns for the year 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Similarly, Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal received a 248 kanal land in Gujranwala as a gift from Ahsan Jameel’s son in 2020 whereas Iqbal had also gifted Rs50 million to his son in the same year.

Moreover, despite having no declared foreign business or property, Farah’s sister Musarrat Khan had received around Rs84 million in foreign remittances in 2020 and 2021.

The documents show that Ahsan’s father had owned Rs15.8 million in assets in 2016, including four acres of agricultural land in Maraliwala Gujranwala. In 2017, Ch Muhammad Iqbal’s declared assets were Rs15.9 million which included the same land declared previously.

In 2018, his declared assets were reported to be Rs16.1 million while in 2019, his declared assets were Rs67 million. In 2020, Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal’s assets had increased from Rs16.1 million in 2018 to Rs113.5 million.

Iqbal had declared a 31 acre land in Gujranwala for the first time and mentioned that it was gifted by his grandson. Apart from this, he had declared two other properties measuring 25 kanal in Mauza Qila Deso Singh, Gujranwala. Three acres of land in Mauza Golki in Kamoke tehsil was also added to his assets. Chaudhry Iqbal had also lent Rs50 million to his son.

As per the documents, in just two years after Imran Khan came into power Farah’s sister had bought 15 residential plots measuring five marla each in the LDA City and three residential plots measuring two kanal each in DHA, Lahore. Her assets grew almost two times and reached from Rs54.1 million to Rs143 million during the PTI regime.

In 2016, Musarrat Khan declared the total value of her assets to the tune of Rs39.65 million which included a residential property 4GG Phase 4 in Lahore’s DHA worth Rs22.5 million and residential property in Divine Garden, Aziz Bhatti Town Lahore, on instalments worth Rs5 million.

In 2017, her assets had reached Rs54.8 million, including commercial, industrial, residential property (non-business) worth Rs30.7 million, a residential property 4GG Phase 4 in Lahore DHA worth Rs22.2 million and a residential property 16-Divine Garden, Aziz Bhatti Town, Lahore, on instalments worth Rs8.5 million.

In 2018, her assets had remained almost the same and there was no major change. In 2019, her assets had remained almost the same and there were minor changes in it and the total worth reduced from Rs54.8 million to Rs54.1 million.

In 2020, her assets had increased from Rs54.1 million to Rs129.5 million.

During this period, Musarrat Khan had bought 14 residential plots measuring five marla each in the LDA City, Lahore. She had also declared a vehicle Hilux 2800cc worth Rs6.2 million. She had bought two residential plots No 108 and 109 measuring 2 kanal each in Block K, Phase 6, DHA, Lahore.

The documents show that she had received Rs 72.65 million in foreign remittances during the tax year.

Musarrat Khan had also bought another residential plot No 128 measuring two kanal in Block D, Phase 9, Prism in Lahore’s DHA worth 13.4 million. She had also bought another plot in the LDA City worth Rs1.4 million. The total assets had increased from Rs129.5 million to Rs143.1 million.

Musarrat had received another Rs12.46 million in foreign remittances.

When contacted, Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal confirmed that he had got 31 acres from his grandson (Ahsan’s son) in 2020. He said the land was actually inherited.

When asked the reason for such a precious gift, Chaudhry Iqbal said: “My grandson was shifting to the US and he didn’t need this land. Therefore, he gifted it to me.”

He said they had precious lands in Gujranwala and everyone knew that the value of one marla in the city cost Rs10 million. He also confirmed loaning Rs50 million to his son.

Replying to a detailed questionnaire sent to Farah Khan’s sister, she said: “All my sources of income are legitimate and all my assets have been declared with the relevant departments.”

The News also sent a detailed questionnaire to Ahsan Jameel on his WhatsApp but he did not respond.