Pandora Papers: PM Inspection Commission initiates formal inquiry

ISLAMABAD: After almost two months since the release of the Pandora Papers, the Prime Minister's Inspection Commission has formally started the inquiry into the Pandora Papers and sent a questionnaire to almost 50 offshore holders in the first phase to seek information about the companies or properties held by them.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on October 3 released the Pandora Papers with the collaboration of 600 journalists from across the world.

The News International — a Pakistani partner of the consortium reported that more than 700 Pakistanis owned offshore companies in various tax havens.

The Pandora Papers revealed that several members of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet or close members of their families, retired civilian and military officials and their families and richest business families of the country secretly own or have owned an array of companies and trusts holding millions of dollars in the offshore jurisdictions.

Soon after the release of Pandora Papers, Prime Minister Imran Khan welcomed it and announced to initiate investigations against those who kept millions of dollars in offshore holdings.

However, many political leaders have expressed their concerns on the pace of Pandora Papers investigations. Unlike the Panama Papers, where a cohesive policy was adopted to investigate the offshore holders, the government is lacking a unified approach to hold an inquiry into the Pandora Papers.

In the Panama Papers, the government, on the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, had constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) comprising experts from different government departments to investigate the matter under one platform. The opposition parties have pointed out many times that the enthusiasm and efforts made at the time of the Panama Papers is lacking during the Pandora Papers investigations.

Three weeks after the publication of the Pandora Papers, the Prime Minister Inspection Commission summoned the two Pakistani journalists who were part of ICIJ’s Pandora Papers and held a meeting with them. During this meeting, the members of the commission asked the journalists to share the information about 700 Pakistanis who were named in the Pandora Papers.

However, as per the ICIJ guidelines, the commission was told unless there is any matter related to public interest, they could not violate the ICIJ guidelines.

The commission told the journalists that the government institutions, including the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, would assist the committee holding the Pandora Papers inquiry. In the meantime, the SECP, while taking initiative, approached those who owned the offshore companies. The FBR spokesperson, however, said they were working with the commission to assist them.

The sources in the inspection commission informed The News that they have sent the questionnaire to almost 50 offshore holders whose details and names were published by the ICIJ and The News International. Some of them have already sent back their replies and the commission is looking into it. The commission has also found more than 30 names from the newly released ICIJ data and deliberating on multiple angles, the source said.

This scribe also contacted some of the individuals who were named in the Pandora Papers and they confirmed receiving the letters from the Prime Minister's Inspection Commission. A retired military official confirmed that he had received the letter and already submitted his reply to them. Similarly, another businessman also confirmed receiving the questionnaire from the commission. The commission, through the official letter, has sent a questionnaire comprising seven queries to the offshore companies’ owners.

The offshore holders have been asked if they know their names appeared in Pandora Papers as offshore trust/ entity holders, if they hold any public office, if any of their close relative(s) hold any public office, provision of the names of the companies/trusts/ entities, names of all shareholders, names of directors/trustees and details of foreign assets linked with the offshore company/trusts/ entities.