White Lies
By DIOGENES July 27, 2008 Prime Minister Gilani, en route to Washington, made a day’s stopover in London with his vast entourage putting up at the swanky five-star Intercontinental Hyde Park and costing thousands of pounds. The ostensible reason for the overnight stop: to meet Gordon Brown or see Nawaz Sharif? No, they say, he wanted to arrive fresh for his audience with George Bush! So much for the optics of tightening belts.
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St. Tropez, that holiday resort in the South of France, may be the celebrated high-rolling spot for the super rich, but they never included many Pakistanis in the past. No more. Apparently, apart from the other rich and famous from Pakistan, two brothers are making waves, if not at the scale of first lady Carla Bruni, in this French holiday enclave. The two raising the Pakistani flag are said to be a fixture on St. Tropez’s many night spots and book-me-a-year-in-advance restaurants with guards and hanger-ons in tow. They ride the most expensive cars, order the most expensive bubbly and the highest price tag vintage champagne. Who are these high-profile moneybags and where is their money pipeline? You don’t want to know.
