Pandora Papers exposed more layers of Nawaz, Zardari corruption: Fawad

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has said that the Pandora Papers have exposed more layers of corruption of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and ex-president Asif Ali Zardari.

In a tweet on Sunday, he 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. "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.

Read more: Fawad hopes Pandora Papers will reinforce PM Imran's stance against money laundering

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”.

According to Express News, 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.

Late on Saturday, the ICIJ announced that it was going to release the “most expansive exposé of financial secrecy yet”. In 2016, the ICIJ had released the Panama Papers, which took the world by storm and eventually led to the downfall of governments, including Nawaz Sharif.

Also read: PM Imran vows to probe all Pakistanis named in Pandora Papers

Reacting to the revelation, Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed to investigate all those Pakistanis mentioned in the Pandora Papers saying: “If any wrongdoing is 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 UN SG's Panel FACTI calculated a staggering $7 trillion in stolen assets parked in largely offshore tax havens,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.