ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has asserted that Pandora papers, a major international research into the financial secrets held by high-profile individuals, has exposed more layers of corruption of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and ex-president Asif Ali Zardari.
Taking to Twitter, the information minister said that PPP leader Sharjeel Inam Memon and Ali Dar, son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif and son of Ishaq Dar, had no status of their own.
شرجیل میمن اور اسحق ڈار کے بیٹے علی ڈار (جو نوازشریف کے داماد بھی ہیں) کی اپنی کوئ حیثئت نہیں یہ نواز شریف اور زرداری کے پیسوں کے پہرے دار ہیں، #PandoraLeaks سے نواز زرداری کرپشن کے مزید پرت سامنے آۓ ہیں ، قوم نے پہلے پانامہ اور اب پنڈورا میں ان کے چہروں سے نقاب اترتا دیکھا۔
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) October 3, 2021
“In fact, they were the custodians of Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari’s ill-gotten money.” Fawad said the nation first saw their real faces exposed in the Panama Papers and now again in the Pandora Papers.
The remarks came shortly after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released its new investigation into international finance and tax havens titled “Pandora Paper”.
The report
Nearly 700 Pakistanis have been named in the report including Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Punjab provincial minister Aleem Khan, PTI Senator Faisal Vawda, PML-Q Leader and Federal Minister for Water Resources Monis Elahi.
Besides, retired government officials, former and incumbent bureaucrats, businessmen including Axact’s owner Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh are also mentioned in the report.
The ICIJ’s major investigation titled: “The Pandora Papers”, is said to be the result of 600 journalists in 117 countries studying for months roughly 11.9 million documents that leaked from the offshore environment.
“The records also reveal the offshore dealings of a top PTI donor, Arif Naqvi, who is facing fraud charges in the United States,” the ICIJ said.
PM Imran’s welcomes Pandora leaks
Soon after the Pandora papers were released on Sunday, Prime Minister Imran Khan has vowed to investigate all those Pakistanis mentioned in the report, saying if any wrongdoing was established “we will take appropriate action.”
“We welcome the Pandora Papers exposing the ill-gotten wealth of elites, accumulated through tax evasion & corruption & laundered out to financial ‘havens’,” the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter.
My govt will investigate all our citizens mentioned in the Pandora Papers & if any wrongdoing is established we will take appropriate action. I call on the international community to treat this grave injustice as similar to the climate change crisis.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) October 3, 2021
“My government will investigate all our citizens mentioned in the Pandora Papers and if any wrongdoing is established we will take appropriate action. I call on the international community to treat this grave injustice as similar to the climate change crisis,” he added.
