Babar Puts Question Mark On His Qualifications

Pakistan News: Law Minister Babar Awan had declared under oath in his nomination papers submitted to the Election Commission for his election as senator in Feb 2006 that he is a PhD from "Monty Cello (Monticello) University, USA" but did not submit the copy of his doctorate degree.

Awan's nomination papers alongwith enclosures, formally obtained from the Election Commission of Pakistan, show that the law minister has provided the photocopies of his certificates/degrees of his Matriculation, Intermediate, Bachelors (B.A), Masters in Economics and LLB.

Awan also disclosed under oath to have done his D.A.L from King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and PhD from "Monty Cello" University but none of these two foreign "degrees" are attached with his nomination papers. He also wrote his full name as "Dr. Zaheer Uddin Babar Awan".

There is no explanation as to why Awan avoided to provide to the Election Commission these two foreign "degrees" one of which has already proved to be fake for the reason that the Monticello University, which issued Babar the PhD degree was never authorised to do so. For being a fraud, the university was not only fined a sum of US$1.7 million by a US court but also faced closure besides being directed by the court to return the fee of those defrauded.

Awan, who continues to use the title of Dr. with his name, interestingly mis-spelled the fake Monticello university in his nomination papers as "Monty Cello" from where he affirmed to have done his doctorate degree. He claimed to have done his PhD in Criminal Law from "Monty Cello University USA" in 1998.

In his declaration given under oath as required by the Election Commission of Pakistan's nomination papers, "Dr Zaheer Uddin Babar Awan" disclosed that he did his Matric in Science in 1971 from Board of Sargodha; Intermediate in Humanities from Board of Sargodha in 1973; BA in Arts from the University of Punjab in 1975; Masters in Economics from the University of Punjab in 1978; D.A.L in Arabic Islamic Law from King Saud University, KSA in 1982; LLB from University of Karachi in 1986; and PhD in Criminal Law from the "Monty Cello University USA" in 1998 session.

He also informed the Election Commission to have paid Rs66,107, Rs44,950 and Rs42,850 as income tax for the fiscal year 2004-05, 2003-04 and 2002-03 respectively.

Regarding his assets, he declared to have Rs15 million worth house in F-8/4 sector of Islamabad; Rs0.4m worth office in Hashim Plaza F-8 Islamabad; Rs0.65m worth office at Sadiq Plaza in Lahore; Rs2m worth office in Blue Area Islamabad; Rs0.62m paid as down payment for apartment in Lahore; Rs1m worth office in Satellite Town Rawalpindi; partial payment of Rs11m for property at Spain; Rs1.4m business capital; Rs0.45m worth Pajero 1990 model; Rs1m worth Toyota Corolla 2004 model; Rs0.5m cash in hand; Rs11m in bank; and Rs135,000 worth furniture, fittings and articles. The value of all the above assets was declared as it was in 2006.

When approached on his mobile number as is also reflected in his nomination paper, the minister did not receive the call from this correspondent but responded, "I'm busy right now. I'll call you later." He neither called back nor picked up the phone again to explain his reasons for not submitting the copies of two of his foreign degrees though he chose to provide to the Election Commission the copies of his master degrees and LLB.

Farooq Awan advocate, brother of the federal law minister, however, when approached by a staffer of The News Investigations Wing to inquire as to why did not Babar Awan attach his foreign degrees like D.A.L and PhD with the nomination papers filed for the Senate seat, Farooq replied that only graduation degree was mandatory to be attached with the nomination papers and not the rest. Farooq perhaps did not know that despite not required the copies of the degrees of Awan's MA Economics and LLB were too submitted in addition to his BA degree and the certificates of Matric and Intermediate.