Lt Gen Asim Bajwa Quits as SAPM on I&B Post Corruption Allegations

Lt General Bajwa said he had requested the prime minister to relinquish him from the post, and he has approved it.

Image of Gen Asim S Bajwa used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Erum Gour / The Quint)

Retired Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa on Monday, 12 October, announced his resignation as Special Assistant to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting.

Taking to Twitter, Lt General Bajwa said that he had requested the prime minister to relinquish him from the post, and he has approved it.

However, he will continue to be the chairman of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority.

Bajwa had first tendered his resignation from the post of SAPM to the prime minister in September, after facing allegations surrounding his family’s assets. However, the premier did not accept his resignation at the time, the Dawn reported.

The official Twitter account of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on 4 September had said that PM Imran Khan was satisfied with the evidence and explanation presented by Lieutenant General Bajwa and therefore directed him to continue his work as Special Assistant.

Case of Alleged Corruption

The resignation came after a report by journalist Ahmed Noorani in August which alleged that Bajwa had used his position to set up up off-shore businesses of his wife, sons and brothers, according to Dawn.

A week after the report, Bajwa announced that he would resign as the PM's aide but continue as chairman of the CPEC Authority. However, Dawn reports that he had claimed that he had all the documents pertaining to the assets and would be ready to present them before any judicial forum.

The report also alleged that Bajwa’s younger brothers opened their first pizza restaurant in 2002, the same year Bajwa started working as a Lieutenant Colonel on the General Pervez Musharraf’s staff.

The report also claims that Bajwa’s younger brother Nadeem Bajwa started as a delivery driver for the pizza restaurant franchise. Now, his other three brothers, his wife and three sons own a business empire with 99 firms in four countries, including a pizza franchise with 133 restaurants worth 39.9 million dollars, reported PTI.

Out of the total 99 companies, 66 are main companies, 33 are branch companies of some of the main companies while five firms are not functioning.

(With inputs from Dawn.)