The story which led to Nawaz Sharif's disqualification

ISLAMABAD: What culminated today in disqualification of Nawaz Sharif started on April 4, 2016, when The News in collaboration with International Centre for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) and German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung exposed hundreds of Pakistani politicians, businessmen, bankers as well as judges having offshore companies.

The findings were based on a year-long investigation of The News that obtained access to the otherwise best-kept secrets of the world.

Read the story here: Pak politicians, businessmen own companies abroad

Our correspondent, Umar Cheema, who is a member of the ICIJ that partnered with more than 100 media organisations from 76 countries to review 11.5 million secret files that a whistleblower leaked to Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The project was given the name of the Panama Papers. About the project, the ICIJ said there are also legal means to send money abroad, and it did not suggest that all that is revealed was done unlawfully or by illegal means.

The names found in the secret files range from those of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s relatives; from Benazir Bhutto to Javed Pasha; from Senator Rehman Malik to Senator Osman Saifullah’s family; and from Waseem Gulzar (a relative of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat) to Zain Sukhera, who was co-accused with former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s son in the Haj scandal.

Businessmen featured in the record range from hotel tycoon Sadruddin Hashwani to real estate czar Malik Riaz Hussain’s son; from the Hussain Dawood family to the Abdullah family of Sapphire Textiles, Gul Muhammad Tabba of Lucky Textiles as well as Shahid Nazir of Masood Textiles and from Zulfiqar Ali Lakhani to Zulfiqar Paracha.

Members from the bar and the bench were also spotted in the documents include one serving judge of the Lahore High Court, Justice Farrukh Irfan; and one retired judge, Malik Qayyum. Owner of Hilton Pharma, Shehbaz Yasin Malik opened the company for a Swiss bank account. Chairman ABM Group of Companies Azam Sultan, Pizza Hut owner Aqeel Hussain and Chairman Soorty Enterprise Abdul Rashid Soorty were also identified along with the family members.

At a global level, the ICIJ and its partners discovered the offshore companies controlled by the prime minister of Iceland, the late father of UK prime minister, children of Azerbaijan’s president, the king of Saudi Arabia, associates of Russian president Vladimir Putin who stashed two billion dollars through banks and shadow companies, the Ukrainian president and brother-in-law of the Chinese president, among other prominent figures.