Benazir Bhutto Net Worth

What was Benazir Bhutto's Net Worth?

Benazir Bhutto was a Pakistani politician who served as the prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. A liberal secular populist, Benazir Bhutto chaired or co-chaired the Pakistan People's Party from the early 1980s until her death. Bhutto was repeatedly persecuted and accused of corruption during her political career, and after returning from self-exile to Pakistan in late 2007 to run for a third premiership, she was assassinated.

Personal Wealth Estimates

Benazir Bhutto's personal wealth has long been the subject of speculation and investigation. At the time of her death in 2007, her net worth was commonly estimated to be around $850 million, though some reports suggested the Bhutto-Zardari family's total fortune could exceed $1 billion when including offshore accounts and foreign assets. Swiss authorities convicted Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, of money laundering in 2003, freezing $11 million in assets. While Bhutto publicly denied amassing vast wealth, multiple international inquiries alleged the family benefited from commissions, kickbacks, and undeclared investments tied to defense and infrastructure contracts.

Early Life and Education

Benazir Bhutto was born on June 21, 1953 in Karachi, Pakistan into the aristocratic, politically prominent Bhutto family. Her father was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who in the 1970s became the president and then the prime minister of Pakistan, and her mother was Begum Nusrat Ispahani. Bhutto had three siblings named Murtaza, Sanam, and Shahnawaz. As a child, she went to the Lady Jennings Nursery School, the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi, and the Convent of Jesus Mary in Murree. Due to her father's role in the government, Bhutto grew up being widely exposed to political figures, and in the late-1960s she joined her father's new political party, the Pakistan People's Party. For her higher education, she first attended Harvard's Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from which she earned her bachelor's degree in 1973. Bhutto subsequently attended Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford, where she received a second bachelor's degree. At the urging of her father, she remained at Oxford for a postgraduate program in international law and diplomacy, earning her master's degree from St Catherine's College, Oxford in 1977.

Start of Political Career

Bhutto left Oxford in 1977 and returned to Pakistan. That July, her father, who had just been reelected as prime minister, was deposed in a military coup led by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. He was subsequently executed in 1979. In the aftermath of the coup, Bhutto and her mother took control of the Pakistan People's Party, and in 1981 established the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy. Repeatedly imprisoned by Zia's military government, Bhutto eventually self-exiled in the United Kingdom starting in 1984.

Prime Minister, 1988-1990

With martial law lifted in Pakistan in late 1985, Bhutto returned to the country in 1986. She instantly spoke out against Zia's regime, and was subsequently arrested and detained. After her release, Bhutto continued rallying against the dictatorship, and in 1988 she decided to run for prime minister. That summer, Zia was killed in a plane crash. In the general elections a few months later, Bhutto led the Pakistan People's Party to victory over the newly formed rightwing party the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad. Forming a coalition with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Bhutto became the 11th prime minister of Pakistan, and the first-ever female prime minister elected in a majority-Muslim country. During her first term, her efforts to advance various reforms were constituently thwarted by conservative and Islamist forces in Pakistan, including President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. In 1990, Bhutto and her government were dismissed by Khan on account of corruption and nepotism. Subsequently, intelligence services rigged the 1990 election to guarantee victory for the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad and its leader Nawaz Sharif. Bhutto then became the leader of the opposition.

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Prime Minister, 1993-1996

In 1993, Sharif's government was dismissed on corruption charges, and Bhutto again led the Pakistan People's Party to victory in the general election, giving her a second premiership. During her second term as prime minister, she oversaw economic privatization and worked to promote women's rights. However, Bhutto's government was wracked with chaos, as the assassination of her brother Murtaza, the failed 1995 military coup, and a bribery scandal involving her and her husband created major instability in the country. There were also charges of financial mismanagement and constitutional violations. As a result, Bhutto's government was dismissed in 1996. The next year, Nawaz Sharif led the Pakistan Muslim League to victory in the general elections, while Bhutto again became the leader of the opposition against him.

Self-Exile, 1998-2007

In 1998, Bhutto again went into self-exile, living between London and Dubai for the next nine years. She was still plagued by corruption charges made by Sharif's authoritarian government, and in 2003 she was convicted in a Swiss court.

2007 Campaign and Assassination

Following United States-brokered negotiations with Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf, Bhutto returned to Pakistan in late 2007 and launched her third campaign for prime minister. She ran on a platform promoting civilian oversight of the military and the combating of rising Islamist violence. In December, after leaving a political rally in Rawalpindi, Bhutto was assassinated by a man who fired three gunshots at her and detonated a suicide vest, killing 22 others. Speculation about the murder ran rampant, with some pointing to the involvement of the Pakistani Taliban or intelligence services. Meanwhile, the Salafi jihadist group al-Qaeda claimed responsibility. Bhutto was buried beside her father in the Bhutto family mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.

Marriage and Children

In 1987, Bhutto entered into an arranged marriage with the wealthy Asif Ali Zardari, who came from a landowning family. Together, they had three children: son Bilawal and daughters Bakhtawar and Aseefa. In the final years of her life, Bhutto lived apart from her husband.

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