Ishaq Dar orders investigations into BahamasLeaks

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has taken notice of BahamasLeaks and instructed all the concerned departments to investigate into the fresh data of offshore companies.

A cache of leaked documents has named around 150 more Pakistanis linked with offshore companies in the Bahamas, a constellation of over 700 islands, located 12,900 kilometers away from Pakistan.

The minister directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to investigate into the matter and take action whoever found violating national laws and regulations without any fear.

German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung obtained the Bahamas data from a whistleblower and shared it with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its media partners.

The investigative report, the world's second-largest financial scandal since the Panama leaks, reveals details of hundreds of secret offshore accounts of people from across the world.

Out of 175,000 companies incorporated in Bahamas between 1959 and 2016, around 150 Pakistanis have been identified as directors of nearly 70 companies.

The Bahamas is one of a handful of micro nations south of the United States, notes ICIJ, notorious for its confidentiality laws and reluctance to share information with foreign governments.

Jibran Khan, the son of Muhammad Naseer Khan, who was the federal minister for health during the Musharraf era, has been named in the Bahamas leaks, former JI senator Professor Khursheed Ahmad has also been named as the director of a registered bank in Miami, Obaid Altaf Khanani, Samina Durrani (mother of Tehmina Durrani) and Karachi-based builder Mohsin Sheikhani are some of the names who are included in the list of persons who own offshore companies.

Obaid Khanani is the son of Altaf Khanani, a money changer who is in the custody of authorities in USA on charges of financing terror.