700 Pakistanis named in Pandora Papers including Shaukat Tarin, Faisal Vawda, Aleem Khan

Last updated on: 04 October,2021 04:20 pm

700 Pakistanis in Pandora Papers including Shaukat Tarin, Faisal Vawda, Monis Elahi

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Another global scandal same like Panama Papers unfolded as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released Pandora Papers (Panama-2) on Sunday.

According to the reports, the Pandora Papers, an investigation uncovering financial secrets held by high-profile individuals across the world, includes the names of more than 700 Pakistanis.

The leaked documents revealed that key politicians including federal cabinet members, opposition party leaders, “have secretly owned an array of companies”.

The names of Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi, Senator Faisal Vawda, Ishaq Dar’s son, PPP’s Sharjeel Memon, the brother of Minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar, PTI leader Abdul Aleem Khan, among others, with alleged links to offshore companies, are included in the Pandora Papers.

Axact’s CEO Shoaib Sheikh, Raja Nadir Pervez, Mohammad Ali Tabba, Mir Khalid Adam, some business and banking personalities have also been named in Pandora Papers.

The names of two sons of former air chief Abbas Khattak, son-in-law of Lt Gen (retd) Khalid Maqbool Hassan Latif , businessman Tariq Saeed Sehgal and wife of Lt Gen (retd) Shafaat Ullah have also been surfaced in the Pandora leaks.

Omer Bakhtyar transferred a $1 million apartment in his mother s name through an offshore company. In 2018, Omar transferred an apartment in his mother s name in the Chelsea area of London. Among the Pakistani personalities, four offshore companies have been named of Shaukat Tarin and his family.

Aleem Khan s one, Sharjeel Memon’s three, Ali Dar s two, Monis Elahi’s two, Faisal Vawda’s one offshore company has emerged.

Faisal Vawda set up an offshore company in 2012 to invest in UK properties, the Pandora Papers show. The leak documents further revealed that the son of former finance adviser to the prime minister Waqar Masood Khan co-owned a company based in the British Virgin Islands.

The secret documents also expose offshore dealings of King of Jordan Shah Abdullah, Qatar’s ruler, the presidents of Ukraine, Kenya and Ecuador, the prime minister of the Czech Republic and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The King of Jordan secretly spent more than £70m ($100m) on a property empire in the UK and US.

Leaked financial documents identify a network of secretly-owned firms used by Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein to buy 15 homes since he assumed power in 1999.

They included houses in Malibu, and in London and Ascot in the UK.

The files also detail the financial activities of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “unofficial minister of propaganda” and more than 130 billionaires from Russia, the United States, Turkey and other nations.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has received more than 11.9 million documents containing 2.94 terabytes worth of confidential information from service providers who helped set up and manage offshore companies and trusts in tax havens around the world.

It may be recalled that the Panama Papers released in 2016 included the names of 444 Pakistanis.

This global investigation surpassed even the Panama Papers of 2016. As many as 600 journalists and 150 media organizations from 117 countries have participated in this investigation.

According to ICIJ, the Pandora Papers project includes financial details of important personalities from 117 countries including Pakistan. Two Pakistani journalists also included in the investigation of Pandora Papers.

Pakistani names in the Pandora Papers:

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin

PTI leader Abdul Aleem Khan

Federal minister Moonis Elahi

Senator Faisal Vawda

Son of PMLN’s Ishaq Dar

Sharjeel Inam Memon of PPP

Brother of Minister Industries Khusro Bakhtiar

Son of former SAPM Waqar Masood

Shoaib Shaikh of Axact

International leaders in the Pandora Papers:

Shah Abdullah of Jordan