Leaks, politics and more leaks
The latest trove of leaked offshore financial records dubbed the Pandora Papers has brought the mantra of accountability full circle in Pakistan but, seemingly, with different standards. For the moment, the Pandora leaks, despite being hyped up as the ‘Panama Papers on steroids’, have caused quite a stir but they have yet to trigger a political storm like the aforementioned 2016 leaks, which led to the downfall of the ex-premier Nawaz Sharif.
In the opposition at the time, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan had demanded immediate action by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to respond to the allegations arising after the Panama Papers, which had taken the country by storm. Now that he finds himself the prime minister in the present storm, Imran Khan’s approach seems to be different to the one had taken when the Panama Papers emerged as neither any timeframe nor the names of the institutions and officials who would investigate the federal cabinet ministers, retired generals, media owners, influential businessmen and others have so far been given.
“The definition of justice demands that identical cases should be treated alike and justice should not only be done but it should be seen to be done,” PPP’s former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said, saying PM Imran’s government has adopted different criteria in the Pandora and Panama leaks just because its own people have been named in the Pandora Papers. “The unfortunate part of the story is that we make tall claims but forget to implement them when it comes to our turn,” the former premier said, adding that the government should be more specific instead of just announcing a cell tasked to investigate the individuals without a set deadline. “When you talk about across the board accountability then there shouldn’t be different parameters for different people,” the PPP stalwart said.
The debate about meaningful and across the board accountability triggered once again on October 3 after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released the documents listing people owning offshore companies and raising questions if the offshore accounts were legally declared or kept hidden to park funds that may not have a banking money trail. ICIJ opened the Pandora’s Box by releasing the massive trove of private financial records while naming 700 Pakistanis among a host of international personalities allegedly hiding financial secrets via off-shore companies. It said that key members of Prime Minister Imran’s inner circle, including cabinet ministers, their families and major financial backers have secretly owned an array of companies and trusts holding millions of dollars of hidden wealth, adding that the military leaders have also been implicated.
Reportedly, the exposé named Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Senator Faisal Vawda, PML-Q’s Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi, ex-finance minister Ishaq Dar’s son Ali Dar, PPP’s Sharjeel Memon, the brother of Minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar, PTI leader Abdul Aleem Khan, PTI donors Arif Naqvi and Tariq Shafi, wife of PML-Q head Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, and ex-FBR chairman and finance secretary Salman Siddiq’s son Yawar Salman, among others, who allegedly have links to offshore companies.
“Follow the same procedure that was followed in Panama case; it’s the set standard now,” PML-N’s former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said. Comparing the reaction after Panama and Pandora leaks, the PML-N leader claimed that “things were fabricated in Panama; someone else was behind PTI back then; and it was an organised conspiracy to undermine PML-N government”. Lamenting that a JIT was formed to investigate the ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, he said that the incumbent government was busy hiding its own crimes and that is why delaying the matter by tasking the probe to a commission.
“Make JIT – Joint Investigation Team – as it’s not the work of committees or commissions to investigate people whose names have emerged in the Pandora Papers,” Abbasi said. “700 people, including the cabinet ministers, retired generals and others, should be questioned just like the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was questioned,” he said.
Apart from the politicians and donors, names of several army officers and their families allegedly involved in scandal have also emerged. Although complete data has not been made public by the ICIJ as yet, the ICIJ and The News journalists, who were part of the investigation, have named the retired army officers and their families.
Reportedly, the wife of retired Lt Gen Shafaat Ullah Shah, retired army officer and former minister Raja Nadir Pervez, former ISI DG of counterintelligence retired Maj Gen Nusrat Naeem, sons – Umar and Ahad Khattak – of former Pakistan Air Force chief Abbas Khattak, retired Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal Muzaffar’s son Muhammad Hasan Muzaffar, retired Lt Gen Khalid Maqbool’s son-in-law Ahsan Latif, retired Lt Gen Tanvir Tahir’s wife Zahra Tanvir and retired Lt Gen Habibullah Khan Khattak's daughter Shahnaz Sajjad Ahmad, who is also the sister of retired Lt Gen Ali Kuli Khan and sister-in-law of former federal minister Gohar Ayub Khan, have been named in Pandora Papers.
Since the names of the army officials have emerged, social media was abuzz with questions like how did Lt Gen Shafaat, being the Corps Commander Lahore in 2007, was able purchased $1.2 million apartment from an Indian national and if a serving general can enter into such dealings with an Indian national.
“Many would differ from my opinion but I say it with complete responsibility that the army never comes in the way of accountability,” Ashraf said, “the army has previously set high standards of accountability by taking action against its own men.” Lamenting that the governments selectively move ahead while keeping the political aspects of the matter in mind, he said, “army doesn’t care about individuals when it comes to accountability.”
Since the Pandora revelations have surfaced, the only good thing that happened was Prime Minister vowing to investigate all Pakistanis named in the scandal but the bad thing is that the government has not yet even presented the Terms of References (TORs) that would define the scope of probe into the Pandora Papers.
Back then, PTI chairman Imran Khan believed that ‘the leaks are God sent’; he had demanded immediate resignation from the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and formation of an inquiry commission led by the then serving Chief Justice of Pakistan. This time around, PM Imran’s government was quick to ‘welcome’ the Pandora Papers; promise investigation into the leaks but has so far kept it under its wings instead of taking the previous route.
All the PTI government has done so far is making the announcement of setting up a “high-level cell” under the Prime Minister's Inspection Commission to investigate Pakistanis being named in scandal, saying facts will be place facts before the nation. While refraining itself from giving a timeframe, the government’s “Cell” will ascertain which offshore companies were illegal or involved in money laundering.
In addition, the information minister revealed that the Cell will only categorise the individuals into four groups: those who declared their offshore companies in Pakistan; persons who didn’t declare companies and committed tax evasion; the ones who used their companies for money laundering; and individuals did not show the offshore companies while declaring their wealth. Criminal proceedings, if any, will start afterwards.
Commenting on the slow pace of the investigations, Abbasi said that there were two systems of justice prevailing in the country, adding one is for PML-N and other for the ruling party. “It’s a simple matter; ask the 700 people to give their audited accounts,” Abbasi said, “the formation of the commission is illegal; it’s just eyewash as commissions only deal with specific issues not the offences.”
The Pandora Papers have reportedly also brought to the light the names of the businessmen, including Axact CEO Shoaib Sheikh, National Bank of Pakistan President Arif Usmani, National Investment Trust Managing Director Adnan Afridi and Peshawar Zalmi owner and renowned industrialist Javed Afridi.
It may be mentioned that setting up of an offshore company is not an offence or crime under the law if the company is not involved in any illegal activity. Not declaring the companies in the returns as assets, however, can lead to legal action. Currently, surprising as it may seem, neither institutions like National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), have swung into action to quiz those named in scandal nor any political party or individual has so far approached the superior courts.
To the question if institutions like NAB, FIA, FBR and SECP should wait for any instructions or start taking action against those named in the Pandora leaks, Abbasi said that the institution should start taking action without waiting for any instructions. All the government can do, he said, is to become complainant in such cases but that doesn’t mean that the institutions should wait for that to happen.
Being in opposition, PM Imran used to frequently argue that an inquiry could never yield the desired results if those who were being investigated remain in their official positions. However, since ICIJ released data, explanations were issued from key government officials but neither anyone resigned nor they have so far been asked to step down.
“There will just be an eyewash; nothing else,” Abbasi said in response to a question if some concrete action would be taken against those accused of using illegal channels to hid their financial secrets. When asked why the opposition has not yet swung into action just like it did in 2016, Ashraf said that the opposition parties should go ahead with no-confidence move against the ruling party, adding PPP was standing its ground but the other parties backed out.