Cong MLC candidate declares Rs 1,744 crore assets, becomes Karnataka’s richest politician

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KGF / Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

He is the owner of a Rolls Royce worth Rs 2.01 crore and two Fortuners worth Rs 49 lakh each

Cong MLC Bengaluru candidate Yusuf Sharif declares Rs 1,743 crore assets, becomes richest politician of Karnataka. Credit: IANS

Congress’ Legislative Council election candidate Yusuf Sharif has declared assets worth Rs 1,744 crore belonging to him and his family in what is, literally, a rags-to-riches story making him arguably Karnataka’s richest politician.  

A native of Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), Sharif also goes by the monikers Gujri Babu and Scrap Babu as he was earlier into the business of selling scrap, before making a foray into real estate. 

Shariff, 54, a resident of Millers Tank Bund Road, is the Congress’ candidate from the Bengaluru local authorities’ seat in the Legislative Council, for which election is scheduled on December 10. Few in the party knew about his candidature until it was made official. 

According to his election affidavit, Sharif has two wives and five children. They have assets worth Rs 1,744 crore of which Sharif alone owns land currently valued at Rs 1,640 crore, non-agricultural. 

Sharif’s declared assets are worth more than Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar’s (Rs 840 crore in 2018) and BJP MLC MTB Nagaraj’s (Rs 880 crore in 2020). 

Sharif, who has studied up to Class 5, is said to be the owner of Umrah Developers, a realty firm. He also has stakes in five other private real estate companies. 

With 12 bank accounts, Sharif has declared liabilities worth Rs 67 crore. 

According to his own declaration, Sharif was raided by Income Tax authorities and levied on him tax dues worth Rs 13.43 crore. “…I have preferred an appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax and same is admitted. The hearing of the case is yet to be done,” he stated. 

Also, Sharif has four criminal cases pending against him under various IPC sections. 

He is the owner of a Rolls Royce worth Rs 2.01 crore and two Fortuners worth Rs 49 lakh each.

How did he get so rich? “That’s a question I will answer to the I-T officials if they ask me,” Sharif told DH.  

According to one Congress MLA from Bengaluru, Sharif is not an active party man. “In fact, we were surprised that the party chose him for the Legislative Council election,” the MLA said, adding that Sharif was picked by Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar and senior leader Ramalinga Reddy. 

According to party sources, Sharif had bagged a scrap contract with the Indian Railways when CK Jaffer Sharief was the Railways Minister. 

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> National / by Bharath Joshi, DHNS / Benglauru / November 24th, 2021