ISLAMABAD, – On Monday, Prime Minister Imran Khan established a three-member high-level inquiry panel into the Pandora Papers.
Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s Minister for Information, stated in a tweet that the country’s prime minister has established a high-level commission under the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission to examine the Pandora leaks. “Everyone engaged in the Pandora leaks will be held accountable by the cell, and the facts will be made public,” he added.
Following the revelation of the Pandora Papers, the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission established a three-member unit. Pandora’s Papers will be investigated by the cell. The cell will include members from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the National Audit Bureau (NAB).
The cell’s legal affairs would be handled by the Law Ministry, according to the statement. The unit would look into the assets of all Pakistanis whose identities were revealed in the Pandora Papers.
The cell will also investigate if these individuals paid taxes or stole. “The cell will investigate if these individuals’ sources of income were genuine, as well as whether or not they have reported assets and whether or not money laundering has occurred.”
In response to the horrific revelations of the Pandora Papers, Prime Minister Imran Khan stated that all Pakistanis implicated in the case will be investigated.
The prime minister said on Twitter that his administration will examine all citizens named in the Pandora Papers. “We will take necessary action if any misconduct is discovered. He went on to say, “I urge on the world community to tackle this grave injustice as if it were the climate change problem.”
“We applaud the Pandora Papers for revealing elites’ ill-gotten riches, which has been laundered to financial “havens” through tax evasion and corruption. In another tweet, PM Khan stated, “The UN Secretary-Panel General’s FACTI assessed a staggering $7 trillion in stolen assets stashed in mostly offshore tax havens.”
“If unchecked, disparities between affluent and poor states would expand as poverty rises in the latter,” Imran Khan added in another tweet. As a result, a flood of economic migration from poor to affluent countries will occur, generating greater economic and social instability throughout the world.”
Earlier this week, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published Pandora Papers (Panama-2) on Sunday, a worldwide scandal similar to the Panama Papers.
The Pandora Papers, an investigation into financial secrets kept by high-profile persons throughout the world, includes the identities of more than 700 Pakistanis, according to sources.
Key politicians, including federal cabinet officials and opposition party leaders, “have covertly controlled an assortment of firms,” according to the stolen records.
The Pandora Papers include the names of Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi, Senator Faisal Vawda, Ishaq Dar’s son, PPP’s Sharjeel Memon, Minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar’s brother, and PTI leader Abdul Aleem Khan, among others, who have alleged ties to offshore companies.
The Pandora Papers also identify Axact CEO Shoaib Sheikh, Raja Nadir Pervez, Mohammad Ali Tabba, Mir Khalid Adam, and other commercial and financial figures.
The Pandora leaks also revealed the identities of two sons of former air chief Abbas Khattak, a son-in-law of Lt Gen (retd) Khalid Maqbool Hassan Latif, businessman Tariq Saeed Sehgal, and the wife of Lt Gen (retd) Shafaat Ullah.
Omer Bakhtyar used an offshore corporation to transfer a $1 million condominium in his mother’s name. Omar moved a flat in the Chelsea neighbourhood of London under his mother’s name in 2018. Shaukat Tarin and his family have four offshore businesses, according to Pakistani celebrities.
Aleem Khan has one offshore firm, Sharjeel Memon has three, Ali Dar has two, Monis Elahi has two, and Faisal Vawda has one.
According to the Pandora Papers, Faisal Vawda established an offshore company in 2012 to invest in UK properties. The records also revealed that the son of Waqar Masood Khan, the former finance adviser to the prime minister, owned a firm in the British Virgin Islands.
The confidential records also reveal the offshore activities of Jordan’s King Abdullah, Qatar’s ruler, Ukraine’s, Kenya’s, and Ecuador’s presidents, the Czech Republic’s prime minister, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Jordan’s King covertly spent more than £70 million ($100 million) on a property empire in the United Kingdom and the United States.
According to leaked financial papers, Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein has utilised a network of privately held companies to acquire 15 residences since assuming office in 1999.
They featured residences in Malibu, as well as London and Ascot in the United Kingdom.
The documents also reveal the financial dealings of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “unofficial minister of publicity” and more than 130 billionaires from Russia, the US, Turkey, and other countries.