PM Yousuf Raza Gilani's wife, Fauzia Gilani

ISLAMABAD: The wife of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is one of the main beneficiaries of the recent loan write-off policy of the National Bank of Pakistan. The bank waived a loan of over Rs 38 million loan taken by Pak Green Fertiliser Limited (PGFL) which she owned as one of its main partners, a media report says.

According to NBP’s annual report of 2009 and its advertisement published in newspapers on April 1, the bank wrote off the PGFL loan last year.

The prime minister’s press secretary Shabbir Anwar says Mrs Gilani had nothing to do with the wavier as she had left the firm in 2007 and the loan was written off in 2009.

The monetary benefit availed by Fauzia Gilani’s firm is in clear contradiction with what the prime minister had claimed in the National Assembly that he and his wife never sought any waiver in bank loans.

The NBP has written off a total of Rs 638.461 million loans of 28 different firms, including the one owned by the prime minister’s wife. The Supreme Court had taken strict notice of writing off of bank loans taken by politicians and bureaucrats and directed the National Accountability Bureau to take action against those who had availed undue benefits in this regard.

According to the NBP, an amount of Rs 38.891 million was settled on the instructions of the Sindh High Court and under State Bank’s rules. But later even the settled amount was written off by the bank.

“As per the directives of the SHC the account of Pak Green Fertiliser Ltd was settled by the NBP under SBP Circular 29 of Oct 15, 2002. In line with the high court’s directives, the NBP settled the account in Oct 2006, and accordingly the settled amount was shared between ZTBL (main lender 89.76 per cent) and NBP (10.23 per cent),” the NBP said.

According to the NBP’s annual report, PGFL is owned by Ziaur Rehman, Khalid Hassain Chaudhry, Fauzia Yousuf Raza Gilani, Chaudhry Munawwar Hussain, Anwar Nasreen Gilani, Syeda Samina Ibrar and Naseem Akhtar.

It could not be ascertained whether or not two separate loans obtained by Mrs Gilani’s two firms from ZTBL have also been written off.

However, the bank’s annual report and the advertisement have clearly mentioned the name of Mrs Gilani.

According to the document and media reports, two firms of Mrs Gilani obtained two separate loans of Rs200 million from ZTBL. The loan amount with interest surged to Rs570 million because of default on payment for over a decade. However, she got the case settled by giving only Rs45.521 million.