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259 Pakistanis named in fresh Panama Papers leak
KARACHI: Names of 259
Pakistanis with links to offshore companies have surfaced in one of the worlds
biggest ever data leaks through an online searchable database made
public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) late
Monday evening.
The names in the
latest release of documents on the website include:
·
Abdul
Sattar Dero, a former general manager of the Port Qasim Authority
·
Shaukat
Ahmed, the ex-president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI)
·
Saba
Obaid, mother of renowned filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
·
Irfan
Puri, Salman Ahmed
·
Gul
Muhammad Tabba
·
Hussain
Dawood with sons Abdul Samad Dawood and Shazada Dawood
·
Maya
Ismael daughter of the late Inayat Ismael
·
Ali
Siddiqui son of banker and stock broker Jahangir Siddiqui
·
Mir
Shakil ur Rahman of the Jang Group
Mir Shakil ur Rehman
had reportedly said that the company was dormant with no money in it.
Know more: What
the Panama Papers disclose about Pakistan’s politicians
The database contains
ownership information about companies created in 10 offshore jurisdictions
including the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands and Singapore. It covers
nearly 30 years until 2010.
The database is
flooded with traffic from around the world and will take more time to fully
sift through.
Obaid-Chinoy
responded to a request for comment from Dawn by saying, “I fully support ICIJ
and the laudable efforts being made by it… I would, however, like to clarify
that in that my name is not mentioned in the Panama leaks and I am neither the
legal nor the beneficial owner of any enterprise mentioned in the Panama
Papers.”
Analysis: Can
the Panama Papers be probed?
“There is a mention
of my mother, Mrs. Saba Obaid (wife of Late S.M. Obaid) and I say with
confidence that the off-shore companies mentioned in the Panama Papers as being
owned by my mother are compliant with the applicable laws.”
Some
of the names included in the list.
While the fresh
digital cache includes the names of members of Pakistan’s business elite, it is
not immediately ascertainable whether the documents contain names of political
heavyweights like the explosive April 3 Panama leaks that named Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif’s children Maryam, Hassan and Hussain among other world leaders
having offshore wealth.
Panama Papers'
inquiry: Opposition insists on probing PM first
The leaks allege that
while he was in opposition, Mr Sharif’s children raised a £7 million loan from
Deutsche Bank against four flats in London’s Park Lane owned by offshore
companies based in the British Virgin Islands.
The government has
since been locked in a bitter battle of words with opposition parties, who are
calling for the prime minister to step down. Mr Sharif and his allies have
spent much of the past month engaged in a damage control exercise to plead the
innocence of the Sharif family.
The Panama Papers, a
massive investigation into the secretive offshore companies owned by the
world’s political and business elite, sparked controversy in several countries
including Pakistan, with Mr Sharif last month offering the formation a judicial
commission to probe his family’s alleged links to offshore accounts.
The US-based
organisation earlier said the fresh release "will not be a data
dump'" of the sort the Wikileaks group became known for.
But it said the
current cache includes 200,000 offshore entities set up by wealthy individuals
around the world.
The documents are
from data given to a German newspaper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, over a year ago by
anonymous source using the name "John Doe".
The data came from
nearly four decades of digital archives of one Panamanian law firm specialised
in creating and running offshore entities, Mossack Fonseca, which says its
computer records were hacked from abroad.
Also read: Source
behind Panama Papers offers help to govts
While the ICIJ has
released this information in public interest, it clearly maintains that it is
not suggesting the people or companies included in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks
Database have broken the law or acted improperly. A disclaimer on their website
also states “There are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts.”
However, the network
maintains that its release of records will help to “strip away the secrecy of
offshore jurisdictions”.
“Using the offshore
economy is akin to acquiring your own island where the rules that most citizens
follow don’t apply,” the ICIJ says on its website.
According to the
initial release of records, other world leaders having offshore accounts
included Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, Iceland’s former PM Sigmundur Davíð
Gunnlaugsson as well as British Prime Minister David Cameron's father.
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