The Panama
Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and
attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The
documents, which belonged to the Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack
Fonseca, were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source, some
dating back to the 1970s. "John Doe", the
whistleblower who leaked the documents to German journalist Bastian
Obermayer from the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), remains
anonymous, even to the journalists on the investigation. "My life is in
danger", he told them. In a May 6 statement, John Doe cited income inequality as the reason for his
action, and said he leaked the documents "simply because I understood
enough about their contents to realise the scale of the injustices they
described". He added that he has never worked for any government or
intelligence agency. He expressed willingness to help prosecutors if immune to
prosecution. After SZ verified that the statement did come from the Panama
Papers source, the International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) posted the full
document on its website.
Because
of the amount of data, SZ asked the ICIJ for help. Journalists from 107 media
organizations in 80 countries analyzed documents detailing the operations of
the law firm. After more than a year of analysis, the first news stories
were published on April 3, 2016, along with 150 of the documents themselves. The
project represents an important milestone in the use of data
journalism software tools and mobile collaboration.
Pakistani
Politicians in Panama Leaks:
Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif is linked to 9 companies connected to his family name.
Those involved are:
Hassan
Nawaz
Hussain
Nawaz
Maryam
Nawaz
Relatives
of Punjab Chief Minister and brother of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif are
linked to 7 companies. They are:
Samina
Durrani
Ilyas
Mehraj
Now
deceased former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was linked to one company.
However relatives and associates are linked to others:
Nephew
Hassan Ali Jaffery
Javed
Pasha, Close friend of Asif Ali Zardari (4 companies)
PPP
Senator Rehman Malik (1 company)
PPP
Senator Osman Saifullah’s family (34 companies)
Anwar
Saifullah
Salim
Saifullah
Humayun
Saifullah
Iqbal
Saifullah
Javed
Saifullah
Jehangir
Saifullah
The
Chaudharies of Gujrat have not been linked personally but other relatives have
including:
Waseem
Gulzar
Zain
Sukhera (co-accused with former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s son in the
Hajj scandal)
Pakistani
Businessmen in Panama Leaks:
Real
Estate Czar Malik Riaz Hussain’s son (Bahria Town)
Ahmad
Ali Riaz (1 company)
Chairman
ABM Group of Companies Azam Sultan (5 companies)
Pizza
Hut owner Aqeel Hussain and family (1 company)
Brother
Tanwir Hassan
Chairman
Soorty Enterprise Abdul Rashid Soorty and family
Sultan
Ali Allana, Chairman of Habib Bank Limited (1 company)
Khawaja
Iqbal Hassan, former NIB bank President (1 company)
Bashir
Ahmed and Javed Shakoor of Buxly Paints (1 company)
Mehmood
Ahmed of Berger Paints (1 company)
Hotel
tycoon Sadruddin Hashwani and family (3 companies)
Murtaza
Haswani
Owner
of Hilton Pharma, Shehbaz Yasin Malik and family (1 company)
The
Hussain Dawood family (2 companies)
Shahzada
Dawood
Abdul
Samad Dawood
Partner
Saad Raja
The
Abdullah family of Sapphire Textiles (5 companies)
Yousuf
Abdullah and his wife
Muhammad
Abdullah and his wife
Shahid
Abdullah and his family
Nadeem
Abdullah and family
Amer
Abdullah and family
Gul
Muhammad Tabba of Lucky Textiles
Shahid
Nazir, CEO of Masood Textile Mills (1 company)
Partner
Naziya Nazir
Zulfiqar
Ali Lakhani, from Lakson Group and owner of Colgate-Palmolive, Tetley Clover
and Clover Pakistan (1 company)
Zulfiqar
Paracha and family of Universal Corporation (1 company)
Pakistani
Judges in Panama Leaks:
Serving
Lahore High Court Judge Justice Farrukh Irfan
Retired
Judge Malik Qayyum
Pakistani
Media personnel in Panama Leaks:
Mir
Shakil-ur-Rehman of GEO and Jang Group (1 company)
The
leaks in April 2016 revealed that three of Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif's children owned offshore companies and assets not shown
on his family's wealth statement.
The companies identified so far include three
British Virgin Islands-based companies Nescoll Ltd, Nielsen Enterprises Ltd and
Hangon Property Holdings Ltd, incorporated in 1993, 1994 and 2007 respectively.
These companies have been used to channel
funds to acquire foreign assets, including some apartments along Park Lane in
London's Mayfair area.
The insinuation that the companies were meant
to hide or launder ill-gotten wealth or to avoid taxes called his credentials
into question.
Mr
Sharif and his family have denied wrongdoing. In November, they told the
Supreme Court that their London property was bought through investments in
companies owned by the Qatari ruling family.
The prime minister has called the leaks the
work of people "targeting me and my family for their political aims".
In an address to the nation on 5 April 2016, he said those "who use ill-gotten
wealth don't keep assets in their own names".
Initially, however, the leaks appeared to
trigger panic in the top circles of the ruling PML-N party. The pressure was
believed to be the reason behind Mr Sharif's unscheduled departure for London
on 13 April 2016 to keep a rare appointment with his doctors.
The Panama
Papers case (officially titled Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi v.
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif) or the Panamagate case is
an ongoing case before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Panama Papers
leak uncovered links between Sharif's
family and eight offshore companies.
PTI chairman Imran Khan filed a petition through counsel Naeem Bokhari with the
Supreme Court on 29 August 2016, seeking Sharif's disqualification as Prime
Minister and as a Member of the National Assembly. The petition also moved against Sharif's children,
son-in-law Muhammad Safdar, and in-law and
incumbent Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. Heard
between 1 November 2016 and 23 February 2017. The case was brought to court
by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan alleging money
laundering, corruption, and contradictory statements by Nawaz Sharif,
the incumbent Prime Minister of Pakistan, after
the
The
Court reserved its judgment on 23 February 2017. The case has been
described as the most publicized in Pakistan's history, as well as a
"defining moment" for the country.
The
Court announced on 20 April 2017 that a Joint Investigation Team has to be
formed to probe the Sharif family's involvement in corruption as stated in the
Panama leaks.
The
special bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and comprising Justice Sheikh
Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsen issued the order while hearing into the
implementation of the Panama Papers verdict case.
According
to the orders of the court, the six-member team will be headed by Additional
Director FIA Wajid Zia.
The
members of the JIT include Brigadier Kamran Khursheed from the Military
Intelligence (MI), Amir Aziz from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Bilal
Rasool, an executive director at the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan
(SECP), Irfan Naeem Mangi, Director at the National Accountability Bureau
(NAB), and Muhammad Nauman Saeed form the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
The
bench had rejected the nominations by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the
Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for JIT.
Order
states, “the Secretariat of the JIT shall be housed in the Building of the
Federal Judicial Academy, Islamabad where they shall be provided adequate
office accommodation and related facilities.
The
Federal Government is directed to provide Rs 20 million initial funds forthwith
so that the JIT may not feel handicapped in its movement in any direction.
The
JIT will have the power to engage and associate local/foreign experts to
facilitate the investigation and collection of evidence in line with the letter
and spirit of order dated 20.04.2017 of this Court.
The
special bench also directed the Secretary Interior to ensure necessary security
arrangements for the Secretariat and the Members of the JIT.
The
JIT has been directed to commence and complete the investigation and submit its
final report in terms of the order dated 20.04.2017. It shall also submit
fortnightly progress reports as stipulated in the said order.
The
hearing was adjourned and the further proceedings to come up on May 22.
Qatar's
Prince Hammad Bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani invited members of Panama’s Joint
Investigation Team (JIT) to his “Sheikh Palace” for answering questions
pertaining to his family business' partnership with late Mian Muhammad Sharif.
Prince
Hammad was responding to JIT’s July 4 letter where investigators requested him
to consider the verification and investigation of his previous letters
important for Hussain Nawaz Sharif and Hassan Nawaz Sharif via facsimile
transmission or email which may be followed up by couriering signed originals.
“Qatari
Prince [Hammad bin Jassim] also asked for names of the JIT members and dates of
their visit,” a close friend of Hussain Nawaz Sharif told this correspondent by
quoting content of the letter JIT received on Friday. Earlier this week, JIT
wrote to Prince Hammad that he has already formally and irrevocably accepted
and submitted to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and
concomitantly the jurisdiction of the JIT.
Al-Thani
has also answered the letter by the JIT and the same will likely to be clubbed
with JIT final report to be presented before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The JIT members have been given the authority to
engage and associate local and/or foreign experts to facilitate the
investigation of Sharif family's offshore assets. The team also has been given
all powers granted by laws relating to investigation, including those available
in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, National Accountability Bureau
Ordinance, 1999 and the Federal Investigation Agency Act, 1975. The directives
also say that since the JIT, in essence and substance, is acting on the
directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, all executive authorities across
Pakistan must assist and cooperate with the team.
"Pakistani Nation role here is like a cricket match watchers"
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