NAB orders probe into 435 Pakistanis’ offshore companies

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Tuesday ordered an immediate inquiry into the companies owned by 435 Pakistanis in the tax havens of Panama and British Virgin Islands.

The chairman has sought details of persons concerned from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Justice Javed said no pressure/influence would be taken into consideration and the inquiry would be conducted transparently and purely on merit having solid evidence.

The companies of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Aleem Khan and former chairman Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) Abdullah Yousaf are also included in the list of offshore companies owned by 435 Pakistanis whose names were leaked in the Panama Papers. Aleem Khan’s offshore company, HEXAM, was established in 2004 and registered in British Virgin Islands.

Abdullah Yousaf owns Green Deal Management and Green Wood Investment, while Shahid Abdullah and Shayan Abdullah own Greenwood Investor, Shireen Investment and Green Deal Management. Usman Yousaf owns Maerl Borough, while Amir Abdullah has six offshore companies established in Panama.

The chairman NAB has directed his team to coordinate with all the stakeholders, if needed, and gather information from key institutions, including the FBR, State Bank of Pakistan, SECP and FIA besides some material already available.

Meanwhile, chairing a meeting at the NAB Headquarters, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has directed all the regional bureaus to file applications with respective accountability courts for an early hearing of under-trial references so as to recover Rs900 billion from corrupt people and bring them to justice.

Taking notice of 499 inquiries and 287 investigations being conducted in all the regional bureaus, Justice Javed expressed disappointment over the regions’ inability to take cases to the logical end.

He said 499 inquiries and 287 investigations had not been completed in prescribed timeframe of 10 months as per SOP/law. The meeting was convened to review the performance of all regional bureaus. The chairman directed all the regional bureaus to inform him about delay in any under process inquiries and investigation. He asked as to why references had not been filed with the respective accountability courts after completion of investigation. As many as 1,138 references are being tried by the respective accountability courts.