Asif Ali Zardari is a Pakistani politician, born on 26th July 1955 in Karachi, Sind, Pakistan, and is best known for being the 11th President of Pakistan in the period from 2008 to 2013, and is now the co-chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party.
Have you ever wondered how rich Asif Ali Zardari is? According to sources it has been estimated that Zardari’s overall net worth is $1.8 billion, as of 2017. Zardari acquired his net worth primarily as a landowner, but his later involvement in politics and the rise of his career, has increased his wealth too. Since he is still active politically and in business, his net worth continues to grow, especially as he still owns property in the UK, USA, France and Dubai as well as Pakistan.
Asif Ali Zardari Net Worth $1.8 Billion
Asif was born as the only son of Hakim Ali Zardari, a prominent landowner and businessman, and belongs to the Sindhi-Baloch Zardari tribe as he is of Sindhi of Baloch origin. As the only son of a wealthy father, he had an interesting childhood and even appeared in a movie as a child artist. Zardari enjoyed boxing and polo as a child, and even led the “Zardari Four” polo team. He was educated in Pakistan at from Cadet College, Petaro, St. Patrick’s High School and Karachi Grammar School, but the rest of the data concerning his graduation from the London School of Business Studies and Pedinton School in Britain is unconfirmed.
As a young man, Asif gained a relatively bad reputation for his easygoing lifestyle, until his engagement to Benazir Bhuto, the daughter of former president and prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Less than a year after their wedding, the then president was killed and due to evident success in polls, Benazir became prime minister.
However, the couple was followed by scandals and attacks from opposition politicians, and Asif was arrested and imprisoned for extortion and kidnapping. The corruption allegations continued after his release, labeling him as a bribed politician. Regardless, in the period from 1990 to 1993 and then again from 1993 to 1996, Zardari was a member of the National Assembly, and after his wife’s return to political power in the early ‘90s, he was the minister of the environment from 1993 to 1996 and federal minister for investment from 1995 to 1996. However the feud in between Asif and Benazir’s mother and brother led to destabilization of her government, which escalated when her brother Murtaza was killed in September 1996. Once again allegedly involved in a criminal affair, Zardari was charged with corruption, money laundering and murder and spent seven years in prison, but during which he was elected to the Senate. However, Asif decided to seek medical help in the US for psychological problems following his release, and when he returned to Pakistan in 2007 after Benazir was assassinated, he was given amnesty for his alleged offenses and made the party’s co-chairman. Zardari’s party took the majority of seats in the parliamentary elections of 2008, and this led to him winning the following presidential elections in September the same year, a position he held until 2013.
When it comes to his private life, Asif and Benazir had two daughters and a son, who is the current chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party. In 2011, the nation’s largest newspaper reported Zardari had married Tanveer Zamani, however both denied the rumours and threatened legal action against the magazine.
