Pakistan's ambassador-designate to the United States Ali Jahangir Siddiqui will take charge of his post on May 29, Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed to DawnNewsTV on Saturday.
Siddiqui will take over from Aizaz Chaudhry, who will step down on the same day. The Foreign Office has informed the Pakistan Embassy in Washington regarding Siddiqui taking charge as the country's top envoy.
His tenure as ambassador will start two days before the end of the current government.
The appointment of Siddiqui has been a cause of much controversy at home as opposition parties accuse Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of appointing his "business partner's son" as the top envoy to the US.
Siddiqui had earlier served Prime Minister Abbasi as a special assistant, advising the prime minister on economic and business matters.
He is the chairman of JS Bank Ltd and son of stockbroker-turned-banker Jahangir Siddiqui.
Ali Siddiqui has also been a director in Airblue — which is also connected to the prime minister's family — Lucky Cement, Azgard Nine, and numerous other companies.
His appointment as ambassador has been challenged in various courts in Pakistan while opposition parliamentarians in both the National Assembly and the Senate have also rejected it.
Reports in the media claimed that the army chief also opposed the appointment in a recent, informal conversation with senior journalists.
Last month, the Islamabad High Court summoned a reply from Siddiqui over a case challenging his appointment as ambassador to the US.
A combined investigation team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore also interrogated him for over an hour in an alleged embezzlement case.
Earlier this month, NAB's Karachi chapter had also appealed to the Sindh High Court to place Siddiqui's name on the Exit Control List due to the ongoing investigation in multiple corruption cases against him.
However, Siddiqui's lawyer had argued that NAB was not authorised to hold an inquiry into the allegations since it was the domain of the Securities and Exchange Commission Pakistan.
