The 'Big Guns' of Panama leaks

Pakistan

The 'Big Guns' of Panama leaks

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(Web Desk) – The Panama Paper leaks in 2015 exposed names of many important and famous personalities linking them to off-shore companies.

The leak also created a havoc in Pakistan where ruling party PMLN’s Sharif family has been at the forefront of the resulting trial from the papers.

As the Supreme Court’s verdict is due to be announced today, the Panama Papers controversy has thrown the country into a political mess with the PM left defending his title. Although PM Sharif denies any wrongdoing, it has set the nation into frenzied divided opinions, debates and countless news coverage with media debates that has been carried out for months.

Sharif has served as a prime minister of Pakistan for the third time he has only one year left to be the first civilian prime minister to complete one term (a span of five years).

In April 2016, a German newspaper reported on the Panama Papers leaks that stirred the world into a controversy on the off shore companies of many important personalities.

According to Dunya News, the report exposed names of many politicians, professional athletes, and other important people that had off shore companies which included the name of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif including his children, Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz and Mariam Nawaz. Pakistan Peoples Party’s members including former Interior Minister Rehman Malik and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto were among the list.

 Panama Papers case scandal has threatened the chances for Maryam Nawaz to become the next candidate for the Prime Minister, who has long been tipped as her father’s successor in waiting.

 Hussain Nawaz son of PM Nawaz Sharif was also among the names of Pakistanis who were named in Panama leaks

The controversy has led to a wide-scale call for investigation into offshore companies of all major personalities, specifically the politicians and those holding public office. With the PMLN being in the heart of the storm, the party has made calls to bring to fore all those politicians whose wealth has remained questionable over the years. Aggressive attempts to bring PTI leaders including Imran Khan, and recently Jehangir Tareen, into the fold of the investigation were made by the ruling PMLN with similar calls being made for major PPP politicians.

  Former Interior Minister Rehman Malik

Panama Papers data also leaked the names of Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razaq, Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko, Saudi Arabia’s King Shah Salman, former Ameer of Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa. President of UAE and Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa bin Ziyad, UK former PM David Cameron who had to resign from their post after their names were leaked in the scandalized Panama Papers.

India’s iconic actor Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachan, internationally acclaimed action hero Jackie Chan, also were amongst the long list of personalities that had off-shore companies. Lionel Messi a famous footballer was also part of the list.