Sharmila Faruqui

Sharmila Sahiba Faruqui Hashaam (Urdu: شرمیلا صاحبہ فاروقی ہشام; born 25 January 1978) is a Pakistani politician from Karachi, affiliated with the Pakistan Peoples Party.

Early life and career
Faruqui is the maternal granddaughter of N M Uqaili, former Pakistan Minister of Finance and daughter of Usman Farooqi, who was a bureaucrat and a former Chairman of Pakistan Steel Mill. Faruqui is the niece of Salman Faruqui, a confidante of former President Asif Ali Zardari. Farooqi earned her Master of Business Administration from the Adamson Institute of Business Administration and Technology, Karachi and a Master of Laws degree.

Faruqui is married to Hasham Riaz Sheikh, a former Wall Street investment banker and presently an advisor to the former President Asif Ali Zardari. Faruqui married Hasham Riaz Sheikh on 5 March 2015. She appears on TV political news/talk/public affairs News channels to defend her party and government from corruption allegations.

Prior joining politics as a Pakistan Peoples Party Leader, Faruqui worked as an actress. She appeared in a Drama serial "Panchwa Mausam" along with Aijaz Aslam, Talat Hussain, Abdullah Kadwani and Gulab Chandio.

She previously served as a member of Provincial Assembly of Sindh from 2013–2018 and was reelected in 2018 Pakistani general elections and later became its member in February 2020.

Corruption
In 2001, Faruqui along with her father Usman Faruqui, a former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills, embezzled Rs 195 billion ($1.95 billion) from Pakistan Steel Mills and Government of Pakistan through political corruption and fraud. Anisa Faruqui, mother of Sharmila, entered into a plea bargain with the National Accountability Bureau on 28 April 2001 after being arrested with First Information Report (FIR) No. 19/96, and given into the custody of the Ehtesab Cell by the Special Judge, Central II, handling cases of top corrupt public servants like Usman Faruqui. Sharmila Faruqui and her family were extensively investigated by officers of the National Accountability Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency and officials Karachi Electric Supply Corporation due to the non-payment of electricity bills worth Rs 1 million.