Amid mounting criticism against Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz over expense details of her London trip, Information Minister Azma Bokhari has clarified that the provincial chief executive did not use public funds and paid for the visit out of her own pocket.
CM Maryam travelled to London last week to attend her daughter Mahnoor’s graduation ceremony and returned to Lahore on Wednesday. The trip drew criticism from opposition leaders and journalists after details of its cost emerged and reports alleged the use of public funds.
Reacting to the claims, Bokhari rejected the allegations and in an X post on Thursday said, “Absolutely incorrect. The Punjab chief minister paid all expenses for her London trip out of her own pocket.”
“Nearly 3.5 million (35 lakh) rupees is the parking fee for Maryam’s aircraft at Luton Airport for three days,” journalist Muhammad Malick claimed during his show earlier this week, going on to also detail expenses of a separate private trip taken by President Asif Ali Zardari.
He said that the fuel cost of the aircraft, calculated according to its manual, came to around Rs78 lakhs, stating that the combined parking and fuel costs for CM Maryam’s trip amounted to around Rs1.25 crores.
Malick had then called on the Punjab government to clarify whether CM Maryam had covered the aircraft-related expenses herself.
