Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, it seems, has perfected the art of receiving gifts and that too expensive ones.

Zardari has set a new record within a year of assuming the presidency by taking one-third of all the expensive gifts presented to all Pakistani Presidents and Prime Ministers, the government informed a Senate panel on Cabinet division.

Of the gifts totalling Rs160 million, Zardari has taken gifts worth Rs 62 million during the first year of his presidency. He reportedly got two BMWs and two Toyota jeeps as gift by former Libyan dictator, late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, during his visit to Libya. He took the jeeps to his home, after paying a sum of only Rs 9.3 million as the retention cost.

During his foreign visits so far, Zardari has got 27 gifts worth Rs 62 million, which is one-third of the accumulated value of the 3,039 gifts, which were given to Pakistan Presidents and Prime Ministers in three decades.

The other 13 Pakistani Presidents and Prime Ministers, from Gen Ziaul Haq to Gen Musharraf and from PM Mohammad Khan Junejo to Shaukat Aziz, quietly took 3,039 expensive gifts worth Rs 160 million to their homes. The list shows three Presidents and two PMs - Farooq Leghari, Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Shaukat Aziz - took gifts worth Rs 150 million out of Rs 160 million but Zardari took the largest share within a year of his presidency.

Others, including Gen Ziaul Haq, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Rafiq Tarar, and PMs Mohammad Khan Junejo, Benazir Bhutto, Balakh Sher Mazari, Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, got gifts worth Rs 10 million.

The record of similar gifts received and retained by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was not produced before the committee. Rules allow the recipients of gifts to pay only 5 % of their value as assessed by the cabinet division which is usually priced very low.

Shaukat Aziz (1,126 gifts), Gen (retd) Musharraf (260 gifts) and Zardari were among the few leaders who got the most expensive gifts. Sources said these gifts were valued at much lower price than their actual price to enable these leaders to take the gifts home without paying a single penny or after paying a meager part of the cost.

The official cost of these expensive gifts, including necklaces, jewellery boxes, diamonds, gold, watches, carpets, etc., was estimated at Rs 26 million.