Sultan Ali Lakhani is a Pakistani businessman and former senator who is the co-founder of the

Lakson Group The Lakson Group () is a Pakistani conglomerate company which is based in Karachi, Pakistan. It was founded in 1954 and is owned by Lakhani family. The conglomerate is based in Karachi, currently chaired by Iqbal Ali Lakhani and was founded in ...

and owner of

McDonald's Pakistan McDonald's Pakistan ( ur, ) is the Pakistani affiliate of the international fast food chain, McDonald's. Its first restaurant was established in Lahore, followed by a second restaurant a week later in Karachi, in September 1998. McDonald's P ...

. He was a member of the

Senate of Pakistan Senate of Pakistan or Aiwān-e-Bālā Pākistān ( ur, , , literally "Pakistan upper house"), is the upper house, upper legislative chamber of the bicameral legislature of Pakistan, and together with the National Assembly (Pakistan), National As ...

from March 1988 to March 1994.

Early life

He is an ethnic

Muhajir Muhajir or Mohajir ( ar, مهاجر, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer ...

and was born on 24 July 1948 in

Gondia Gondia (also spelled Gondiya) is a city and municipal council in the Indian state of Maharashtra which serves the administrative headquarters of the eponymous administrative district. Gondia is also known as ''Rice City'' due to the abundance ...

, Maharashtra, India. He holds a degree in economics from the

University of Karachi The University of Karachi ( sd, ; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (wh ...

Career

Political career

He was elected to the

as a candidate of

Pakistan Muslim League The Pakistan Muslim League ( ur, ; known as PML), is the name of several different Pakistani political parties that have dominated the right-wing platform in the country. The Muslim League (a different party) was the party of Pakistan’ ...

on the general seat from Sindh. He was a member of the Senate between March 1988 and March 1994. He was arrested in 2000 on the orders of

National Accountability Bureau The National Accountability Bureau ( ur, ; abbreviated NAB) is an autonomous and constitutionally established federal institution responsible to build efforts against corruption and prepare critical national economic intelligence assessments ...

(Pakistan) for alleged loan defaults and being a business partner of

Hassan Nawaz The Sharif family ( ur, شریف خاندان) is a political family from Pakistan, based in the city of Lahore, Punjab. They belong to the Bhat Kashmiri tribe, which is a large community living in many districts of Punjab. The family uses th ...

, son of the former Prime Minister,

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

. They co-owned fast-food chain

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

(Pakistan). They were arrested for failing to pay back loans they had taken from various banks.

Business career

Lakhani is also the owner of

and was the Honorary Consul of Mexico in Karachi.

Awards and recognition

In 2012, Lakhani received the

Hilal-i-Imtiaz The ''Hilaal-e-Imtiaz'' (; ), also spelled and transliterated as Hilāl-e-Imtiyāz, is the second-highest (in the hierarchy of "Hilal") civilian award and honour given to both civilians and military officers of the Pakistan Armed Forces by the ...

(Crescent of Excellence) conferred by then President of Pakistan

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari ( ur, ; sd, ; born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician who is the president of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians and was the co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party. He served as the 11th president of Pakist ...

References

1948 births Living people Lakson Group Pakistani mass media owners Pakistani newspaper publishers (people) Pakistani industrialists Pakistani prisoners and detainees Members of the Senate of Pakistan University of Karachi alumni Businesspeople from Karachi Pakistan Muslim League politicians Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz People from Gondia Pakistanis named in the Pandora Papers {{Pakistan-bio-stub