ISLAMABAD: As many as 259 Pakistanis, including close relatives of politicians, celebrities and businessmen, have been named in the second set of Panama Papers.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has published online detailed data from the Panama Papers trove on more than 200,000 secret offshore companies.
The searchable database built on just a portion of the documents leaked from the Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca reveals more than 360,000 names of individuals and companies behind the anonymous shell firms, the ICIJ said.
According to details, more than 150 citizens of Karachi and 100 citizens of Lahore are named in the Leaks. Residents of Islamabad, Peshawar and Gujrat also feature in the revelations.
Saifullah family owns the highest number of offshore companies and the biggest owner among them is Javed Saifullah who owns 17 companies while Humayun Saifullah owns nine off-shore companies.
The most favourite country of the Pakistanis for establishing off-shore companies is British Virgin Island where they made 153 companies.
The family of Zulfikar (Zulfi) Bokhari, a close friend of Imran Khan; Irfan Puri, an oil czar equally close to the PPP/MQM leadership and presently in Dubai jail; Tariq Islam, a cousin of Benazir Bhutto, former health minister Naseer Khan; Seth Abid’s family; Admiral (r) Muzaffar Hassan’s son; Port Qasim Authority’s former MD and NRO beneficiary Abdul Sattar Dero and former president of Karachi chamber of commerce Shaukat Ahmed are also in the list.
Mother of Oscar award winner, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy; fashion designer Zehra Valliani along with her brother, an asset manager, Fawaz Valliani have also been identified as owners of offshore companies, while Abdul Aleem Khan of the PTI also features in the leaks.
The leaked documents belong to law firm, Mossack Fonseca that have been published by Panama Papers. The paper earlier published leaks in April that alleged around 140 leaders of the world of evading taxes and stashing wealth abroad while 200,000 offshore companies were revealed.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family was accused among other politicians. Iceland’s prime minister was forced to resign when his name was linked to an offshore company while Spanish minister also stepped down. British Prime Minister David Cameron ended up admitting he profited from an offshore firm started by his father.
