Shakaib Qureshi, caretaker minister for Planning & Development and Sindh Revenue Board (SRB), was given the portfolio of Finance while caretaker finance minister Shabbar Zaidi, was given the portfolios of Excise & Taxation and Board of Revenue. A notification to this effect was issued here on Wednesday.
Qureshi joined the caretaker cabinet after resigning as Chairman, Sindh Revenue Board (SRB). At the time of induction in caretaker cabinet, Qureshi was being tipped as minister for finance. But, the portfolio was given to Shabbar Zaidi. Shakaib's core background is as a lawyer with specialization in corporate finance. He started his career as an Assistant Editor of an English newspaper. Later, he joined Civil Service of Pakistan in 1989 after passing CSS exam. He served in Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) group.
In 1997, he proceeded to England after refusing to illegally persecute political leadership. And consequently was falsely implicated in a number of politically-motivated cases. Later, he was acquitted in all these cases. After leaving Pakistan, Shakaib studied law to qualify as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales. He completed the academic component of his legal studies by completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Law followed by a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice Course from the College of Law in 1999.
After a brief stint as an associate at Goldman Sachs, he joined Clifford Chance in London at the end of 1999 which is one of the top law firms in the world where he specialised in corporate finance. In 2006, after almost seven years at Clifford Chance, Shakaib joined the Bayer Group. In March 2009, he was promoted to the Management Board of Intendis which is the global dermatological business owned by Bayer.