President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday said that the choice of venue for the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Alvi Dental and an American company was “poor judgement”.
Taking to Twitter, the president – who is a dentist by profession – said that hosting an event for the signing of an agreement between his son Dr Awab Alvi and Bringing Smiles USA at the Sindh Governor’s House “was a matter of poor judgement”.
The statement came after several citizens and politicians questioned whether there was a conflict of interest in the president attending a private event that was also hosted at the Governor’s House. During the event, which was held on Monday, an agreement was inked to provide affordable dental care to the citizens of country. The MoU was signed by Awab Alvi of Alvi Dental Hospital and Dr Anas Athar of Bringing Smiles USA, which was witnessed by President Alvi and First Lady Samina Arif Alvi. Initially, the president had congratulated his son on the venture. “Wish you success in this collaboration with your friends who are also bringing in foreign investment,” he said on Twitter in response to his son’s tweet. A picture of the ceremony shared by Awab also showed the president standing in the background.
PML-N’s Ayesha Raza Farooq raised several questions about the event. “Why is this signing off taking place at the Governor’s house? Why is the president of Pakistan promoting his family’s business? Isn’t this a violation of his oath? Conflict of interest?” she asked.
