PTI minister’s father and senator owns offshore company

ISLAMABAD: Disclosures about the offshore companies and offshore wealth of the PTI leadership continues. Now another top PTI leader, Senator Liaquat Ali Khan Tarakai, the tobacco king of KP, whose son Shahram Khan Tarakai is the senior provincial minister for health, is found to have an offshore company registered in the British Virgin Islands on August 24, 1998.

The offshore leaks data of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) shows that PTI’s Liaqat Ali Khan Tarakai incorporated offshore company ‘Ambassador Overseas Limited’ at the address Portcullis TrustNet Chambers PO Box 3444, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands in 1998 without using word Tarakai in his name. The ICIJ record at the web-link https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/117989 shows he is director and shareholder of this offshore company. The offshore company registered in name of Liaqat Ali Khan is linked with a Pakistani company “Imperial Cigarette Industries Pvt LTD, Togai Road, Tarakai Swabi” which, according to profile of Senator Liaqat Khan Tarakai, is his major business. The ICIJ data further shows that one Javed Iqbal of Imperial Cigarette Industries is also a shareholder of BVI offshore company Ambassador Overseas Limited. The 2010 offshore leaks database of ICIJ, uploaded again by merging it with data of Panama Papers, shows the status of offshore company as ‘Active’.

The News sent questions to Liaqat Khan Tarakai as well as his son provincial minister Shahram Khan Tarakai. Both received the questions but opted not to respond.  The profile of the PTI Senator Liaqat Khan Tarakai shows that he is chairman of Tarakai Group of Companies since March 1990, chairman of Imperial Cigarette Industries since March 1986, Managing Director of Gloria Jean’s Coffees International since March 2008, Managing Partner of DHA Cogen. Ltd/AEI Energy International Huston USA since August 2006, CEO of Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts since November 1999, CEO of Japan Power since April 1992 and a senator for the term 2015-21.

The 2015 statement of assets and liabilities submitted by Liaqat Khan Tarakai with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) shows that he declared only total current value of immoveable property (plots, houses, apartments, commercial buildings, under-construction properties, agriculture property) held within Pakistan at Rs213,313,311 without giving any further detail or addresses. Liaqat Tarakai declared no immoveable property outside Pakistan. In his 2015 asset statement, Liaqat Tarakai declared his business capital within Pakistan at Rs107,936,330 while he declared that he has no business capital or investment outside Pakistan. Tarakai declared one vehicle having value Rs3,400,000, jewellery worth Rs3,000,000, cash in hand Rs200,000 while cash in bank accounts Rs11,043,002 without giving details of accounts and furniture of value Rs2,000,000.