Pak PM Imran Khan’s close associates named in Pandora Papers

Key members of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's inner circle, including cabinet ministers, their families and major financial backers, have been named in the "Pandora Papers". 

According to an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) report,  they have secretly owned an array of companies and trusts holding millions of dollars of hidden wealth.

However, the documents contain no suggestion that Imran Khan himself owns offshore companies.

Among those whose holdings have been exposed are Pakistan Finance Minister Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin and his family and Waqar Masood Khan, the son of Khan's former adviser for finance and revenue. 

Also, the leaked documents named Pakistan lawmaker Faisal Vawda, PML-Q leader Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, Ishaq Dar's son, PPP's Sharjeel Memon, the family of Minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar, PTI leader Abdul Aleem Khan and Axact CEO Shoaib Sheikh, reports the Dawn. 

The records also reveal the offshore dealings of a top PTI donor, Arif Naqvi, who is facing fraud charges in the US. 

In one of several offshore holdings involving military leaders and their families, a luxury London apartment was transferred from the son of a famous Indian movie director to the wife of a three-star general. 

Millions of leaked documents dubbed the Pandora Papers and a worldwide journalistic partnership on Sunday claimed to have uncovered financial secrets of current and former world leaders, politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories, including India and Pakistan.

Shortly after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) unveiled the documents, Imran Khan tweeted, "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." 

In another tweet he said, "My govt will investigate all our citizens mentioned in the Pandora Papers & if any wrongdoing is established we will take appropriate action. I call on the international community to treat this grave injustice as similar to the climate change crisis."

ICIJ, which involved the BBC, the Guardian and the Indian Express in India among 150 media outlets in its investigation, claimed it obtained over 11.9 million confidential files to find secret financial dealings of many super-rich.

According to the ICIJ, its secret documents expose offshore dealings of the likes of the King of Jordan, the presidents of Ukraine, Kenya and Ecuador, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The files also reveal the financial activities of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "unofficial minister of propaganda" and more than 130 billionaires from Russia, the US, Turkey and other nations.

According to ICIJ, the leaked records come from 14 offshore services firms from around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore nooks for clients often seeking to keep their financial activities in the shadows.

The ICIJ analysis of the secret documents identified 956 companies in offshore havens tied to 336 high-level politicians and public officials, including country leaders, cabinet ministers, ambassadors and others.