Bank of Punjab writes off loans worth over Rs 7bn to influential industrialists, builders, politicians and journalists

The Bank of Punjab (BoP) has written off loans worth Rs 7.09 billion to more than 800 influential people during the period 2005-2021, Bol News has learnt. The beneficiaries include businessmen, politicians and members of the media.

These loans were written off under the category of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs). According to bank records, the bulk of these loans (4.39 billion) were written off during 2018-2011, when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was in power.

Those who got their loans written off include the incumbent Punjab minister for Communication and Works, Sardar Asif Nakai, who had borrowed Rs 800,000 from the bank in 2010.

In 2019, the bank wrote off loans worth Rs 50.8 million issued to former Minister of State for Privatisation, the late Rana Arif Tauseef, and former parliamentarian, Rana Zahid Tauseef, who is the owner of Rana Textile Mills.

Rao Faheem Yaseen, a close relative of former Interior Minister Rao Sikander Iqbal, got his two loans amounting to Rs 54.3 million written off. The loans were issued in 2016 in the name of the Windmills Restaurant and the Palki Marriage Hall.

A close relative of the ruling Sharif family and owner of the Haseeb Waqas Sugar Ltd, Mian Haseeb Ilyas, got a loan of Rs 98.4 million written off in 2021, when Punjab was ruled by the PTI chief minister Usman Buzdar.

Amna Taseer, wife of former Punjab Governor, the late Salman Taseer, also got a loan worth Rs 45.01 million written off in 2018. The loan was issued to a company named Pace Barka Properties.

Similarly, senior journalists Mujeebur Rehman Shami, and the late Zia Shahid (late) got their loans written off to the tune of Rs 3.9 million including principal amount of Rs 3.7 million in 2007 in the name of Barex limited and Rs 77.8 million in the name of Interact Pvt Ltd in 2018 respectively.

Moreover, Javed Akram, the brother of former Attorney-General Malik Qayyum, and former Minister of Commerce, the late Muhammad Pervaiz Malik, got a loan of Rs 12.3 million written off. It was in the name of JS Developers Pvt Ltd in 2012.

It is important to mention here that under the prevalent laws, banks are required to, and normally do disclose details of loan write-offs exceeding Rs 500,000 in their annual accounts statements that are published on their websites. Yet, neither the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) nor the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) have so far taken any visible action to recover lost revenue.

On the contrary, the SBP has been offering incentive schemes for banks and development finance institutions to write off loans of the organisations showing losses for three consecutive years.

The beneficiaries of this policy include ventures linked to textile, food, beverages, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, plastics, paper, sugar, transport, steel, chemicals and cement industries. Please see the box titled BoP List.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo motu notice of the issue in 2008 following press reports alleging that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had quietly allowed commercial banks to write off Non Performing Loans (NPLs) under a scheme introduced by the regime of the former army chief and president, General Pervez Musharraf.

It constituted a three-member Commission, headed by former Justice Syed Jamshed Ali, to prepare a report on the recovery of written off loans from 1971 onwards. The Commission found that an amount of Rs 87 billion had been written off in 38 years, of which Rs 2.38 billion were written off during 1971-91 and Rs 84.62 billion during 1992-2009.

According to the Commission, during the two tenures of Nawaz Sharif (1990-93 and 1997-99) a total of Rs 22.35 billion were written-off. Similarly, during the two tenures of the late Benazir Bhutto, such write-offs amounted to Rs 7.23 billion.

The Commission had recommended action against the beneficiaries, but no action was ever taken, probably because they included powerful political and business elite of the country.

BoP List

Some of the top businesses and private entities that got their loans exceeding Rs 500,000 written off during the period 2005-2021 are listed below.

Zahid Waheed Khawaja of Khawaja Foods, Rs 72.9 million,  Syed Bilal Hussain Gilani of Trading House, Rs 5.6 million, Tariq Rafi of Ayesha Textile Mills, Rs 31.5 million, Syed Akhsheed Hussain Naqvi of Alpha Dairies, Rs 38.6 million, Shahid Naseem Khokhar of Pride Spinning Mills, Rs 324.07 million, Azhar Majeed of Arzoo Textile Mills, Rs 39.5 million, Qamar Zaman of Tractor House, Peshawar, Rs 11.1 million, Nadir Kamal Osman of Modern Food Industries, Rs 15.1 million, Khawaja Rahimullah of Khawaja Traders, Rs 10.7 million, Agha Najeeb Raza Khan of Magic River Services, Rs 36.4 million, Tabassum Shafiq of Sultan Motors, Rs 19.4 million, Malik Ahmad Ali, Rs 5.5 million, Akhtar Shahzad, Rs 10.04 million, Mian Zahid Pervaiz Marhal, Rs 14.78 million, Shahid Chaudhry of Nida Textile, Natasha Textile and Shuku Textile Mills, Rs 411.06 million, Khan Mujeeb Pervaiz Khan of Khan Unique Builders, Rs 232.2 million, M. Ilyas Awan of Rehman Polytex, Rs 66.5 million, Farzana Shuja Lakk of Lakk Developers, Rs 64.05 million, Abad ur Rehman of SNM Securities Pvt Ltd, Rs 45.2 million, Asad Fayyaz Sheikh of Kohinoor Mills, Rs 350.3 million, Chaudhry Abdul Karim of MNH Exports, Rs 79.06 million, Habibullah Khan of Standard Fruits, Rs 21.01 million, M. Munir of DCO Pakistan Pvt Ltd, Rs 173.1 million, Iftikhar Ahmad of Poly Pack, Rs 122.7 million, M. Amjad Aziz of Aziz Rice Mills, Rs 15.05 million, Faisal Jawad Bhatti of Chishtia Sugar Mills, Rs 11.6 million, Mian Umer Hayat (late) of Akbar Steel Industries, Rs 59.3 million, Nadeem Ahmad Khan of Best Brands, Rs 46.7 million, M. Yaqoob Sheikh of Hussain Cotex (Hussain Builders), Rs 80.9 million, Imtiaz Rafi Butt of Rafi Group, Rs 10.2 million, Banker Avenue Cooperative Housing Society, Rs 91.3 million, Kamran Khan of Flying Cement, Rs 18.6 million, Asif Kamal of Tricon Developers, Rs 55.2 million (in 2015), Kh Mansoor Mazhar of Honda Point, Rs 29.8 million, Syed Sohail Hashmi of Shzee Gas, Rs 16.6 million, Abdul Waheed Sheikh of Bismillah Fabrics, Rs 5.9 million, Mirza M. Siddique of Shadabia Industries, Rs 9.9 million, Javed Rashid of K-Shoes, Rs 34.6 million, Mian M. Jahangir of Mian Textile Industries, Rs 31.9 million, Hammad Bashir, Rs 14.4 million, Mudassar Ahmad of Mac Technology, Rs 9.7 million, Pervez Siddique of International Ceramics Ltd, Rs 11 million, M. Nasrullah of Mansur & Company, Rs 22.01 million, Rao Mubarik Ali of Arsel Enterprises, Rs 40.5 million, Rana Nisar Ahmad Khan of R.N. Services, Rs 23.1 million, Ch Nabi Bakhsh Bhinder of Punjab Pearl Rice Mills, Rs 21.2 million, Adil Mahmood of Adil Textile Mills, Rs 21.06 million, Raja Amer Khan of Basti Walton, Rs 15.8 million, Mehr Rafique of Rafique Nawaz & Builders, Rs 15.8 million, Tariq Rafique Sandhu of Nanjing Chinese Restaurant, Rs 14.07 million, Rai Nasir Abbas of Nasir & Company, Rs 12.5 million, Muhammad Shahzad Tariq of Koh-e-Noor Industries, Rs 11.9 million, Qaiser Obaid Khan of Obaid Noor Hospital, Rs 11.02 million, Ahmad Nawaz Bhatti, Rs 8.9 million, Nooruddin Ahmad of First Bus Ltd, Rs 10.87 million, Asad Ali Khan, Rs 40.9 million, Asad Majeed of Jeea Textile, Rs 30.7 million, Makhdoom Afkarul Hassan of Al Macca Agri Corporation, Rs 10.6 million, Abdur Rafique Khan, Rs 28.4 million, Faisal Farooq of Anmol Company, more than Rs 77 million, Azhar Mahmood Paracha of Habib Jute Mills Ltd, Rs 229.9 million, including 98 million as principal amount, Tahir Javed of Urban Developers, Rs 234.8 million, Bilal Ahmad of Ammar Textile, Rs 173.5 million, Syed Ali Nawaz, Rs 5.6 million, Hassan Ahmad Farooqui of Pakistan Milk and Breeders, Rs 5.7 million, Asmat Batol Rs 3.7 million, Malik Sajid Mehmood, Rs 5.2 million, Shahzad Ali of Melsi Karachi Good Transport, Rs 19.4 million, Asad Nawaz Khan of Global Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and KNK Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, Rs 88.6 million, Muhammad Younas of Wood Master International, Rs 45.9 million, Tariq Rafi of Bashir Cotton Mills, Rs 196.4 million, Dr Pervaiz Imtiaz Khan, Rs 4.6 million, Abdul Shakoor of Gulistan Power Generation, Rs 31.2 million, Humayun Mazhar of Crescent Jute Products, Rs 113.4 million, Syed Mehmood Hussain of Maqbool Engineering Associates, Rs 6.4 million, Mian Fazl-e-Haque of Zemindar Flour Mills, Rs 53.9 million, Mumtaz Ahmad of Yaqoob & Sons, Rs 47.7 million, Ilyas Mehraj of Oriental Fruits, Rs 41.6 million, Sialkot Transport Corporation Ltd, Rs 10.6 million, Muhammad Athar of Hygiene Industries, Pak Pansy and Universal Corporation, Rs 70.1 million, Abdul Shakoor of Paramount Spinning Mills, Rs 361.2 million, Ch Shabbir Ahmad of Shabbir Trading Company, Rs 23.5 million, Abrar Ahmad of Azeem Exports Pvt Ltd, Rs 17.9 million, Ali Rizwan Bhatti, Rs 10.5 million, Nasir Mehmood of Chaudhary Brothers Farming, Rs 11.5 million, Raees Munir Ahmad, Rs 13.02 million, Shah Zakiur Rehman of Al Meezan Metal Industries, Rs 7.3 million, Tariq Majeed of Vicky Trading Company, Rs 19.3 million, Sajida Khanum, Irfan A. Ayub of Younas Metal Works, Rs 112.1 million, Asif Kamal of Allied Developers, Rs 44.7 million, Abdul Wasay Mehta of A.B.M. Gravure, Rs 16.8 million, M. Tufail of M. Tufail & Co, Rs 10.8 million, Rashid Mehmood Tariq of Estate One Builders, Rs 22.1 million (2019), Jawed Ahmad Qureshi, Rs 3.4 million, M. Faisal Nazir of Aman Developers, Rs 27.3 million, Arshad Ali Tahir of Aziz Sons Tractor Corporation, Rs 24.1 million, M. Javed Iqbal of UN Enterprise, Rs 11.5 million, Syed M. Jawad of Famous Brands, Rs 17.8 million, M. Akram Mughal of Mughals Pakistan Limited, Rs 57.6 million, Khalid Ahmad Khokhar, Rs 14.8 million, Abdul Majeed Yousaf of Capital Tower Citilink Travels, Rs 16.1 million, Kh Bilal Ahmad of Ammar Textile Pvt Ltd, Rs 173.5 million, Abid Ali Langah of A-One Chicks, Rs 4.8 million, Ahmad Dawood Al Hassainy, Rs 11.6 million, M. Akrm Khan of Amira Textile, Rs 6.2 million, Kh Masaud Aziz (late), Rs 5.3 million, Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan of Noor Jehan Dying Mill, Rs 7.9 million, Ch Abdul Haq of Charm Style, Rs 5.78 million, Mehmood Ahmad of Cresent Standard Investment Bank, Rs 288.1 million, M. Zahid of Shamkey Steel, Rs 2.8 million, M Sadiq Sial of Anka Associates, Rs 3.5 million, Mian Rashid Arshad of Sardar Baluch Pvt Ltd, Rs 4.6 million, Syed Rashid Hussain, Rs 7.01 million, Alamdar Hussain, Rs 16.3 million, Raja Bilal Khan, Rs 5.5 million, M. Yousaf of Abubakar Cold Storage, Rs 11.7 million, Imtiaz Ahmad, Rs 14.2 million, Syed Ali Husnain Shah Kirmani, Rs 6.3 million, M. Aslam Sohail of Sohail Hafeez Feeds, Rs 11.6 million, Tahir Malik of Trafco Logistics, Rs 2.2 million. Source – Board of Investment website

Loan Write-offs by Year

2021

169 people – Rs 1.57 billion

2020

119 people – Rs 825 million

2019

68 people – Rs 363 million

2018

310 people – Rs 1.66 billion

2017

26 people – Rs 163 million

2016

37 people – Rs 1.04 billion

2015

22 people – Rs 402 million

2014

10 people – Rs 76 million

2013

15 people – Rs 88.7 million

2012

12 people – Rs 488 million

2011

03 people – Rs 83.6 million

2010

04 people – Rs 5.96 million

2009

07 people – Rs 7.6 million

2008

19 people – Rs 330.4 million

2007

10 people – Rs 29.9 million

2006

07 people – Rs 7.6 million

2005

12 people – Rs 27.3 million