Daily Times

LAHORE: Lavish foreign tours undertaken by Punjab Board of Investment and Trade Chairman Muzaffar Mairaj have raised many eyebrows as he has officially visited China thrice in just two months, costing Rs 6 million to public exchequer. He made these visits to China on the pretext of inviting investors to invest in Punjab and arranged many business dinners, functions and meetings for which he also got million of rupees from the Punjab government. Sources told Daily Times that the investment board once paid him $40,000 and second time he received $25,000 for tour to China. “He used to stay at very expensive and lavish hotels in China, which had become a matter of anxiety for the Board of Governors. In spite of his repeated visits, not even a single Chinese investor has contacted the Punjab Investment Board for making investment in the province,” they added. They said Muzaffar Mairaj splashed out most of the money on the generous dinners and lunches that he hosted in the honour of his some special friends in China. They added the chairman had taken control of the CM’s Guest House, which is reserved for temporary stay of any foreign high dignitary. Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif, they said, had given him a task to bring foreign investment to the province but he allegedly utilised public funds on lavish foreign tours.