LARKANA, Sept 12: Riaz Ahmed Phulpoto, estate manager of Ms Benazir Bhutto, on Wednesday blamed ‘remnants of Gen Zia’ for misguiding Ms Ghinwa Bhutto about property issues at a time when the general elections were just round the corner.

Mr Phulpoto said in a written statement that nobody ever raised the issue during 10 years of his tenure. It was being deliberately blown out of proportion at this time to defame Shaheed Z.A. Bhutto, he said, adding that ‘Zia’s remnants’ who brought in late Mir Murtaza Bhutto in 1993 during elections to pit him against his sister were now misguiding Ms Ghinwa.

He said that he was receiving death threats and “they (who were threatening him) would be responsible if anything happened to him. If ‘they’ had any objection they had better contact the family or move court because he (Riaz Phulpoto) is not an authority.

“I work as manager for Begum Nusrat Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Sanam and Sassi Bhutto and only they have exclusive right to remove me,” he said apparently referring to a public notice released by Ms Ghinwa Bhutto announcing his removal from service.

He dismissed corruption charges levelled against him by Ms Ghinwa and claimed that he had raised the revenue by 300 per cent within 10 years since his appointment by Begum Nusrat Bhutto in 1997. Z. A. Bhutto himself had distributed property among his family before well his execution, he said.

Mr Phulpoto said that the estate affairs were being run quite smoothly even after the arrival of Mir Murtaza Bhutto in 1993. He (Murtaza) himself never meddled in the estate’s affairs, he said.

Giving details of Bhuttos’ shares in property he said Begum Nusrat Bhutto owned the petrol pump in Ratodero while Ms Benazir Bhutto had its power of attorney.

Late Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Sanam Bhutto and Sassi Bhutto had 25 per cent shares each in the rice mill in Naudero and they equally drew their share, he said.

Ms Benazir Bhutto and Sanam Bhutto had 50 per cent shares each in the plot near Suikrano Tower, which was purchased at Rs14,75,000 in 2000, he said and added that Mir Murtaza Bhutto had one third share in Al-Murtaza House while 70-Clifton and 71-clifton were owned by Sanam and Sassi, respectively, Mr Phulpoto said.

Ratodero police, meanwhile, released four workers of Pakistan People’s Party (Shaheed Bhutto) who were arrested from the petrol pump after the dispute erupted. Police had, however, not released Habib Umrani, said Khalid Bhutto, estate manager of Ghinwa Bhutto.