Panamagate scandal: PM Nawaz nominates six names for ToRs committee

Opposition parties in the National Assembly also submit a list of names of their representatives to Speaker Ayaz Sadiq

ISLAMABAD: Almost a week after the government and opposition parties agreed to form a 12-member committee to draft joint terms of reference (ToRs) for an inquiry commission, which would investigate Panama Papers revelations, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nominated on Monday six members from the treasury benches.

In a letter addressed to National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said in pursuance of the motions adopted by the lower house of parliament on May 19, and the Senate on May 20 on the aforementioned subject, the prime minister has nominated the following members from the government side:

1. Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo


2. Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar


3. MNA Akram Khan Durrani


4. MNA Khawaja Muhammad Asif


5. MNA Khawaja Saad Rafiq


6. MNA Anusha Rehman

Last week, PM Nawaz had announced on the floor of the National Assembly that a joint parliamentary panel, with equal representation from government and opposition parties, should thrash out ToRs through consensus for a probe into the Panamagate scandal.

Thousands of documents leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca had revealed that the world’s wealthy and powerful, including three scions of Nawaz among 220 Pakistanis, had secreted their wealth in offshore holdings in international tax havens.

It had prompted calls from the opposition for a wide ranging probe over possible laundering, starting from the family of the prime minister.



After the announcement, members of the opposition parties in the National Assembly gave Sadiq a list of names of their representatives.

The six-man opposition team is likely to include Awami National Party’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Aitzaz Ahsan, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s Tariq Bashir Cheema, MQM’s Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif and Jamaat-e-Islami’s Sahibzada Tariqullah.