ISLAMABAD – The stunning Pandora Papers unveiled by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on Sunday has exposed the illegal financial secrets of more 700 high profile Pakistanis including prominent politicians, families of military officers, media owners and powerful businessmen.
According to the report, the offshore companies of many powerful personalities currently serving in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet have been exposed which is a test case for Imran Khan as he has always been against the offshore investment and has always criticised opposition parties for the same practice in past.
According to the ICIJ report, names of politicians holding offshore companies include Minister of Finance and a close aide of PM Imran Khan, Shaukat Tarin, along with three of his family members having offshore companies. Omer Shehriyar, the younger brother of Federal Minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar also owns offshore companies.
Faisal Vawda, the former federal minister and a very close friend of PM Imran Khan, along with two other family members hold offshore companies.
The PTI leader and senior Punjab Minister for Food Abdul Aleem Khan and the former federal minister and now Senator Faisal Vawda with two family members among those holding offshore companies. Furthermore, the sons of former Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Waqar Masood Khan and former finance minister Ishaq Dar also own offshore companies.
Meanwhile, former Sindh minister of information Sharjeel Memon, former chairman Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) and Secretary Finance Salman Siddiq’s son Yawar Salman also own offshore companies.
Besides politicians, the Pandora Papers also exposed few top retired military officers and their family members who owned offshore companies and kept their wealth secret.
The wife and son of former Corps Commander and Lt Gen (retd) Muhammad Afzal Muzaffar own offshore companies. Furthermore, Maj Gen (retd) Nusrat Naeem, Lt Gen (retd) Khalid Maqbool’s son-in-law, Lt-Gen (retd) Tanvir Tahir’s wife, Lt-Gen (retd) Ali Kuli Khan’s sister, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Abbas Khattak’s sons also owned offshore companies.
The investigative report released by ICIJ also revealed that some powerful media owners in Pakistan have offshore companies.
The media owners who own offshore companies include Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, the owner of Jang Group, Hamid Haroon, CEO Dawn TV, Sultan Ahmed Lakhani, the publisher of Express Media Group, the owner of Pakistan Today, late Arif Nizami, and the Gourmet Group.
Apart from that some business tycoons of Pakistan also own offshore companies. Javed Afridi, the owner of the Peshawar Zalmi franchise has three offshore companies including; Old Trafford Properties Ltd, Sutton Gas Works Properties Ltd and Gas Works Property Ltd.
The report further revealed that National Bank President Arif Usmani owned a company named Sasa Partners Inc.
The Pandora Papers further unveiled that Managing Director of National Investment Trust, Adnan Afridi also owned offshore company, Veritas Advisory Services Ltd in October 2011.
According to the ICIJ, the revelations are part of the Pandora Papers, a new global investigation into the shadowy offshore financial system that allows multinational corporations, the rich, famous and powerful to avoid taxes and otherwise shield their wealth.
The probe is based on more than 11.9 million confidential files from 14 offshore services firms leaked to the ICIJ and shared with 150 news organizations around the world.