The ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) has exposed financial secrecy by releasing 11.9 million leaked documents of leaders. The Pandora leak is one of the biggest leaks so far which will outdo the Panama leak of 2016 as well as the WikiLeaks of US diplomatic cables in 2010.
Name of Pakistanis in the Pandora Papers
The Pandora Papers include the names of at least 700 Pakistanis including the names of retired military officials, politicians, and businessmen from Pakistan.
The names include:
- Federal Minister of Finance – Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin.
- Federal Minister of Water Resources, Moonis Elahi.
- Sharjeel Memon of PPP.
- Punjab’s Senior Minister – Abdul Aleem Khan.
- Abdullah Masood, son of former adviser to PM Waqar Masood Khan.
- Son of Ishaq Dar, Ali Dar.
- Senator Faisal Vawda.
- Brother of Federal Minister Khusro Bakhtyar, Omer Bakhtyar.
- MD National Investment Trust – Adnan Afridi.
- Ali Jahangir Siddiqui.
- Arif Naqvi.
- Arif Shafi – Businessman.
- President of National Bank – Arif Usmani.
- Asif Hafeez – Merchant.
- Bashir Dawood – Trader.
- Munir Shaikh – Din Group.
- M. Wasim of Ibrahim Fibres.
- Khalid Adamjee.
- Family of Khusro Bakhtiar.
- Mohammad Ali Tabba.
- Naveed Maghis Sheikh – Sugar Mill Owner.
- Shahnaz Sajjad Ahmad – Daughter of a retired lieutenant general.
- Shoaib Sheikh – Axact CEO.
- Tariq Saeed Saigol.
- Tariq Shafi – A leading businessman.
Names of international leaders:
- Shah Abdullah of Jordan.
- Tony Blair – Former Prime Minister of the UK.
- Ruler of Qatar.
- Leaders of Ukraine, Kenya, and the Czech Republic.
Names of military men and families:
- Pervez Musharraf’s former military secretary Lt Gen (retd) Shafatullah Shah – He bought a London apartment.
- ISI former DG for counter terrorism Major Gen Nusrat Naeem has an offshore company in his name. He claimed it was constructed by a friend, but he never used it. He never denied its existence. This occurred upon his retirement in 2009.
- NLC former DG Lt Gen Afzal Muzaffar’s son – Hasan Muzaffar has a company.
- Lt Col (R) Raja Nadir Pervez.
- Ahad Khattak – Son of the former Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak.
- Umar Khattak – Son of the former Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak.
- Ahsan Latif – Son-in-law of retired Gen Khalid Maqbool.
- Zahra Tanvir – Wife of Lt Gen (R) Tanvir Tahir.
Why do people not declare assets?
According to Umar Cheema, accountability is selective which is the most unfortunate thing. He said, “It is to target rivals and remove them.” Furthermore, he said “As you know, people built their careers on Panama Papers. But others became part of propaganda. Because PM Nawaz Sharif’s children’s names were on them, they are khandaan-e-Awal (the first family) but later it turned out that the way it unfolded, it was business as usual for others.”
In addition to this, Umar Cheema said that even the FBR, whose responsibility it was, awoke briefly before falling back asleep. The Supreme Court also made comments in this regard. Notices were sent to everyone. He said, “As a journalist, I can’t demand but NAB, FBR are silent. Look at Khusro Bakhtiar and his family, NAB asked questions and did the work but you would not know otherwise. People are arrested at the lower level. But nothing has happened in this investigation.”
Also Read: What Are The Pandora Papers?
Aleem Khan
Umar Cheema said that “Aleem Khan’s company was mentioned in the Panama Papers. At that time, we had asked him, and he said he had declared them. I think he had eight or ten. It wasn’t clear if they were in the British Virgin Islands. The record we have acquired now is that this company has London properties.”
Aleem Khan also took to Twitter to clarify that his company was listed in all his asset declarations.
Shaukat Tarin
While explaining his offshore firms, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin stated that Saudi businessman Tariq bin Laden expressed interest in investing, therefore he obtained authorization from the State Bank of Pakistan to open his offshore company. Furthermore, these enterprises were included in his stated assets from 2008.
Tarin said, “We were raising money. The company was indeed opened. But its accounts were not, and neither were any transactions done.” In addition, he said “It is Tariq bin Laden’s company Middle East Developers Ltd, Dubai. We want to put this money in but then there was some bomb blast in Karachi and his interest ended. Those companies were shut then as well. They were operating for a legitimate purpose and they had SBP approval to bring in that investment. They are absolutely declared. It has nothing to do with how typical offshore companies are opened, in which tax money is put.”
Shaukat Tarin also tweeted and said, “In 2014, M E Developers LLC of Tariq bin Laden wanted to invest in Silk bank. They got In Principal approval from the SBP and then opened four offshore accounts to raise structured finance to raise funds.”
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on the eve of the release of Pandora Papers said that these leaks will support the anti-corruption narrative of Imran Khan.
This is how the people of Twitter reacted to the information leaked in the Pandora Papers:
