Motions seek NA debate on Panama leaks

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Two adjournment motions were filed in the National Assembly seeking debate of the house on the recent revelations of offshore assets of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family members.

The motions came a day after the PM announced formation of a commission to investigate allegations against his family made in the wake of the so-called Panama Leaks.

But major opposition parties of the country outrightly rejected the commission, demanding PM’s resignation.

The two separate motions were filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s Shireen Mazari and Awami Muslim League (AML) Chief Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed.

“This is unacceptable. Who are they to form a commission themselves and then decide its terms of reference? This is a joke,” Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed said while speaking to media.

He called upon the PM to step down.

Shireen Mazari expressed similar views, “Nawaz Sharif is himself a party in the matter. Therefore, he cannot form a commission himself,” she said.

The PTI senior leader sought a debate in the house about the issue.

The leaked papers, comprising 11.5 million documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, exposes how some of the world’s most powerful people have secretly stashed their money in offshore companies and accounts. The leak also implicated Sharif’s sons Hasan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz.

Three of Sharif’s four children are named in the Panama Papers — daughter Maryam, who has been tipped to be his political successor, and sons Hasan and Hussain — with the records showing they owned London real estate through offshore companies administered by Mossack Fonseca.

When the Panama Papers were first released, Sharif’s son Hussain denied the allegations, saying his family had done “nothing wrong”.

Revenue generation is particularly sensitive for Pakistan’s government, which is receiving a $6.6 billion bailout package from the IMF and has a tax-to-GDP ratio of 11 per cent, among the lowest in the world.

As prime minister, Sharif has invited investment in Pakistan. But the latest revelations could raise uncomfortable questions about why his family has kept their wealth abroad.

The Panama Papers have whipped up a storm of controversy over offshore wealth, ensnaring political leaders, sports figures and underworld members across the globe in the scandal.

4 COMMENTS

  1. It's very difficult to conceal the trail of money from a good investigator. All that needs to be done to prove guilt or innocence is to compare tax receipts (or exemptions for earnings/sales) with the amount of money stored in the offshore accounts. Huge amounts of money in offshore accounts without huge amounts of taxes paid, means the concerned party is guilty.

    Whoever has leaked these Panama papers has done Pakistan a huge favour. Now the truth is out in the open. This is not gup schup but dcoumented facts. Those with huge offshorre accounts should put up or shut up – put up the evidence of how they made the money in the offshore accounts or shut up and go to jail.

    • The best possible way to avoid tax is showing earnings ( legal or illigal) in the name of a Charity Organization like did MQM. Bhatta money received by London from all over the world goes to MQM's KKF on which no tax in UK. But now that fund has been frozen by the British authorities because nothing was spent towards charity in last 10 years.

  2. Eighty percent of the readers have voted against the resolution passed by Punjab Assembly against the Panama Leaks in a survey carried out by a respectable English Daily of Pakistan.

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