ISLAMABAD: Shahbaz Gill, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, is also working as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, but he did not declare this employment and salary in the assets submitted to the Cabinet Division.
Shahbaz Gill is on the payroll of the US university and the university confirmed that the SAPM has an annual salary of $124,770.92.
Gill is teaching Management and Organisational Behavior, Principles of Marketing, and Principles of Retailing in this American University.
As per the prime minister’s directives, all the SAPMs and advisers are bound to declare their assets and liabilities with the Cabinet Division in a prescribed declaration form. However, Gill has not declared the salary or employment with the American state university to the Cabinet Division despite receiving the salary.
Apart from his foreign employment, Gill is also a permanent resident of the US (US green card holder). He has declared his American permanent residency with the Cabinet Division but there is no mention of his salary and employment, according to Geo News.
He, however, has declared some properties in Pakistan and a house in the US as well as some amount (Rs11,900,000 and $40,000) in the category of receivable.
According to the Cabinet Division, in July 2020 Gill owned plot No406, Block F, Gulberg Residentia, Islamabad, valued at Rs3,956,000 and he also owned farmhouse No302-D Block, Gulberg Greens, Islamabad.
The SAPM has two cars (a BMW and a Camry) worth more than Rs6.5 million, the documents revealed. Gill, along with his family, owns gold worth Rs5.5 million.
The Cabinet Division website contains the details of the assets of all the SAPMs. Some of them have submitted the assets details annually, which is a public document. However, Gill has declared his assets as the SAPM only for the tax year 2019. The Cabinet Division has no other details of Shahbaz Gill for the tax year 2020 and 2021.
It is important to note here that after coming into power, Prime Minister Imran Khan reportedly had directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to register a case against PML-N’s Khawaja Asif under Article 6 for receiving salary from a foreign company while he was a member of the federal cabinet.
Gill — who is a member of Imran Khan’s cabinet and has proudly claimed in the media to be the eyes and ears of the premier — has not only been receiving the salary from an American public university but his assets and liabilities form submitted with the Cabinet Division has no mention of his foreign employment and salary. Gill himself claims to have unprecedented access to the PM.
