Fact-check: Petrol, official cars were given to former CM Parvez Elahi’s political assistants
14 political assistants of the chief minister, out of a total of 117, were provided official vehicles, petrol and car maintenance allowances and drivers
Updated Tuesday Jan 31 2023
Politician Moonis Elahi has alleged on social media that the 117 political assistants, appointed by former chief minister of Punjab Parvez Elahi, had worked in “honorary capacity” and no money from the public exchequer was spent on them.
The claim is false.
Claim
On January 29, a journalist tweeted that Parvez Elahi had appointed 117 political assistants between August 5, 2022 to January 4, 2023.
In response to the journalist’s tweet, Moonis Elahi, the former federal minister and Parvez Elahi’s son, wrote on the microblogging website: “All political assistants appointed by him were in honorary capacity. Zero was the exact amount given to them from the exchequer.”
His tweet has received over 214,000 views and 858 retweets, at the time of writing.
Fact
Moonis Elahi’s claim is false.
14 political assistants, out of a total of 117, were provided official vehicles, petrol and car maintenance allowances and drivers, confirmed officials of two separate wings of the Punjab government’s Services and General Administration Department, which had issued the notifications during Parvez Elahi’s tenure as chief minister.
An official at the implementation and coordination wing and another at the transport wing, who asked not to be identified, confirmed to Geo Fact Check at their offices that of 117 political assistants appointed by Elahi, 14 were provided cars from the government pool.
The political assistants, who were doled out vehicles were: Irfan Ahsan, Shakeel Atta Ullah Virk, Muhammad Zulfiqar, Malik Haq Nawaz, Zulfiqar Ali Ghuman, Zain Ali Bhatti, Safia Javed, Amjad Mehmood Chaudhry, Arif Gondal, Samina Khawar Hayat, Zubair Ahmed Khan, Liaqat Gondal, Amir Nawaz and Umar Iftikhar.
Geo Fact Check has seen the official document regarding the cars.
Below is the list of the vehicles the assistants were given:
Sr. No. | Make | Model | CC | Deployment |
| 1 | Toyota Corolla, Grande | 2017 | 1800 | Irfan Ahsan |
| 2 | Toyota Corolla, GLI | 2018 | 1300 | Shakeel Atta Ullha Virk |
| 3 | Toyota Corolla, GLI | 2017 | 1300 | Muhammad Zulfiqar |
| 4 | Toyota Corolla, GLI | 2017 | 1300 | Haq Nawaz |
| 5 | Toyota Corolla, GLI | 2016 | 1300 | Zulfiqar Ali Ghuman |
| 6 | Toyota Corolla, GLI | 2017 | 1300 | Zain Ali Bhatti |
| 7 | Toyota Corolla, GLI | 2018 | 1300 | Safia Javed |
| 8 | Toyota Corolla, XLI | 2018 | 1300 | Amjad Mehmood |
| 9 | Toyota Corolla, GLI | 2018 | 1300 | Ch. Arif Gondal |
| 10 | Toyota Corolla, Altis | 2018 | 1800 | Samina Khawar Hayat |
| 11 | Toyota Corolla, XLI | 2018 | 1300 | Zubair Ahmed Khan |
| 12 | Toyota Corolla, GLI | 2018 | 1300 | Liaqat Gondal |
| 13 | Toyota Corolla, Grande | 2022 | 1800 | Amir Nawaz |
| 14 | Toyota Corolla, Grande | 2018 | 1800 | Umar Iftikhar |
Moreover, these 14 political assistants were provided 200 liters monthly petrol with car maintenance allowance and a driver, confirmed an official, who used to work closely with former chief minister Parvez Elahi.
While those who were members of the Punjab assembly (MPAs), as well as political assistants, were given 250 liters per month petrol.
“Of the 14 cars given to the political assistants, only five have been returned to the government till now,” the official of the transport wing revealed.
All 117 political assistants were de-notified on January 25, soon after a new chief minister Mohsin Naqvi took office.
The names of the 117 men and women who were made political assistants to the former chief minister are below. This document has been confirmed by the department.
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