ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s 22 rich industrial families officially profess to own assets only worth Rs. 852.3 million in their own names, while they still hold vast amounts of wealth and assets under benami arrangements. … The taxes they pay, do not necessarily correlate to the assets. This is particularly relevant because … a major portion of the capital formation in Pakistan took place out of tax evasion, misuse of Government’s foreign exchange and rupee loans… .

No official study is available … on their asset and ownership structure, resources they control, business transacted in names other than their own, and their foreign exchange holdings abroad. The lack of information on such an important national subject is surprising.

However, a private but informed study carried out in late 1960s showed that the 22 families owned 66 per cent of all industrial assets … 79 per cent of all insurance business and 80 per cent of all bank assets. … The study indicates that the collusion of the big industrialists and the financial institutions, like banks and insurance companies is so complete that the four major banks in Pakistan … have mostly been lending the deposits they acquire from small savers to the 22 families. — News agencies

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2023