A blizzard of papers

Has the PM broken any law in Pakistan, and if so how, and when

The last week has seen a to-and-fro of documents relating to the Panama Papers affair like no other previously seen. A new player has also emerged, the Qatari Prince Shaikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Hamad bin Abdullah bin Jassim bin Muhammed Al Thani — who in documents submitted to the apex court has stated that he gave money to the PM family for the purchase of flats in London. This is the first time there has been mention of Prince Thani in this context. Also landing on the apex bench is a 600+ page collection of documents presented by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) that purport to be evidence of corruption by the PM and his family.



The latter stack of papers has been dismissed by the bench, which expressed its anger at the PTI submitting what it described as material that had ‘no relevancy’ to the case at hand; and the former appears as the Bench pointed out to the PM legal team, to contradict previous statements regarding the purchase of the flats in London.

Key questions are going unanswered. First among these is has the PM — and let us not forget that he is not named in the Panama Papers — broken any law in Pakistan and if so how, and when. And if he has why are his principal accusers the PTI not telling us what that is and why are they not pursuing, as far as we know, an FIR in respect of an alleged breach of the law? Further, has the PM broken any British law? There appears to be no action by the UK tax authorities in this matter, and the UK Inland Revenue Department is well-known for its pursuance of miscreants both at home and abroad. Neither is there any indication that the PM is in breach of any international law — offshore investments are commonplace and widely used by the wealthy globally. None of this is to say that the PM is lily-white in his financial dealings, but nor is it evidential proof of wrongdoing. The Honourable Justices could be in gainful employment for years to come.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2016.

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