Musharraf admits to receiving huge financial aid from Saudi King

Islamabad [Pakistan], Nov. 9 (ANI): Former Pakistani president and military ruler General (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf has disclosed that he was helped by the late Saudi King Abdullah after he left power and had no place of his own to live in the UK. In a TV interview, Musharraf said that he did not beg for money but King Abdullah gave him a huge amount though he did not disclose the exact amount, reports the News. According to a once a close aide of the former dictator, Musharraf was also helped by the rulers of another Arab state. Earlier in 2012, the News reported that Musharraf's foreign accounts contained millions of dollars. However, in his income tax returns to the Election Commission of Pakistan for 2013 general elections, Musharraf neither mentioned that he was the recipient of a "gift" from Saudi ruler nor disclosed his wealth outside the country. In his memoirs - In the Line of Fire - Musharraf admitted that he had come from a really humble background where they did not have enough money but now he is a billionaire. In 2012, The News reported that Musharraf made huge saving investments abroad to earn large profits. In just one Dubai-based online trading service - MMA - he had USD 1,600,000 (Rs 145 million) in 2011. In one of the many accounts he held in the Union National Bank, which is an investment bank in Abu Dhabi, Musharraf and his spouse Sehba Musharraf had a joint account No 4002000304, in which the amount in 2011 was almost UAE Dirhams 17,000,000 (Rs 391 million). In his nomination papers filed for the May 2013 elections, Musharraf had declared the total value of his assets at Rs. 645 million, which was far less than the amount shown in his offshore accounts. In the assessment year 2012, he declared Rs. 1,567,000 as his total income but paid no tax. In the 2011 assessment year, he declared Rs. 1,467,420 as his income but paid no tax. In the year 2010, he declared Rs. 1,386,168 as his income but paid no tax. In his tax papers of these three years, there is no mention of who helped him with millions of dollars or how he had accumulated billions in foreign accounts besides the property that he had purchased in London and Dubai. (ANI)