Exposure of financial, legal secrets: Panama, Paradise, Pandora rattle the world in succession

LAHORE: Exactly 66 months after the Panama Papers, one of the biggest investigative and research reports “Pandora papers” containing 11.9 million documents rattled the global business and political elite on Sunday.

Panama Papers were leaked from the world’s fourth-largest offshore law firm, Messrs Mossack Fonseca and contained more than 11.5 million confidential financial and legal records involving numerous heads of state and government had shaken the world. The leaked documents had indicated that $2 trillion has passed through the firm’s hands.

The Panama Papers contained secret information of more than 214,488 offshore companies, a few of which belonged to 12 current or former world leaders; 128 other public officials and politicians; and hundreds of celebrities, businessmen, and other wealthy individuals of over 200 countries.

Overall, as many as 444 Pakistani nationals were named in the Panama Papers, including the-then Premier Nawaz Sharif, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Farrukh Irfan (Judge of the Lahore High Court), Rehman Malik (former Interior Minister), Justice (retd) Malik Qayyum and politicians Anwar Saifullah, Humayun Saifullah, Usman Saifullah and Salim Saifullah.

While the Icelandic Prime Minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, had left office in April 2016 following the Panama Papers revelations, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk also had to relinquish charge just days later. Other rulers named in the documents included Khalifa bin Zayed (UAE President), Prince Muhammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, Bidzina Ivanishvili (former Georgian PM), Pavlo Lazarenko (former Ukranian PM), Ion Sturza (former PM of Moldova), Ayad Allawi (former Acting Iraqi PM), Ali Abu Al-Ragheb (former Jordanian PM), Hammad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani (former Qatari PM), Malcolm Turnbull (former Australian PM), former Argentinean President Mauricio Macri, Petro Poroshenko (former Ukranian PM), Rafael Correa (former president of Ecuador), and Ahmed al-Mirghani (former President of Sudan).

Interestingly, the Pandora Papers have surfaced about 47 months after the Paradise Papers were released by the International Consortium of Journalists on November 5, 2017. The names of 135 affluent Pakistanis, including that of former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, had flashed headlines after the Paradise Papers had revealed data of over 25,000 companies spanning 180 countries, from 1950 to 2016. The data comprised a major part of documents leaked from company “Appleby.”

Among the Pakistani individuals with accounts in a Swiss bank, either created in their own name or through offshore companies, the names of former National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) chairperson Ayaz Khan Niazi, businessmen Sadruddin Hashwani, Mian Muhammad Mansha were most prominent.

The Paradise Papers had also included names of Britain’s Prince Charles, his mother Queen Elizabeth II, President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, and US Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistani Premier Imran Khan’s regime had sent notices to 294 of his compatriots in November 2018, named in Panama Papers. The-then Pakistani finance minister, Asad Umar, had pledged that action was being taken against all the people listed in Panama Papers.

It was also revealed that at least 150 people were untraceable while at least four had already given up their Pakistani nationalities. The-then Pakistani finance minister had said that the investigation in at least 15 cases, worth about Rs10.9 billion was in the final stages and Rs6.2 billion was recovered by the authorities.