Islamabad: Former NA speaker Fahmida Mirza and her husband Dr Zulfiqar Mirza lent over Rs500 million loans from different banks and later written-off, sources said on Monday. The couple has been declared defaulters for Rs280 million by a bank.
According to details handed over by the State Bank of Pakistan to the ECP, the couple used political influence to get loans from different banks and later write-off. The sources said that former speaker Dr Fahmida Mirza and former interior minister of Sindh Zulfiqar Mirza are contesting the upcoming elections from NA-230 and NAPS-74 respectively. Former speaker and her husband allegedly used their political influence to get loans from different banks and they have been declared defaulter by Habib Bank Limited, Industrial Development Bank Limited and Muslim Commercial Bank. The couple got loans at the name of Mirza Sugar Mill.
The couple had write-off Rs372 million from Habib Bank Limited, Rs7.97 million from Industrial Development Bank, and Rs268 million from Muslim Commercial Bank.
Dr Mirza and her husband had written-off Rs482 million from Muslim Commercial Bank. Besides, Dr Fahmida Mirza had also write-off more than Rs60 million from Allied Bank, as per the record received by the ECP. Dr Zulfiqar Mirz on the other hand had written-off Rs66 million loans from Allied Bank.
As per the ECP election law, any person who has been declared defaulter for Rs2 million is not capable of taking part in the elections. However, Dr Fahmida Mirza has been submitted her nomination papers from NA-230 and Dr Zulfiqar Mirza from NAPS-74. Dr Fahmida Mirza was when contacted she was not available for comment.