‘Panama Papers’ make many rush for toilet papers

Apr 05, 2016 Top Stories 0

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• Apparently ‘not so credible’ report into money laundering stirs the world
• Pajama Leaks follow the Panama Leaks across the globe
• World leaders, top businessmen, showbiz personalities, sports amongst identified launderers

By AsgharAli Mubarak

ISLAMABAD: A ‘not so credible’ and rather sensation oriented  media report by a little know or not known at all, syndicate of journalists of different countries of the world, identifying themselves as members of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), has hit the headlines in the global media, as they claim they have released the names of numerous world personalities who were running offshore companies in Panama to launder their money and to evade taxes in home countries.

The report named as “ The Panama Papers” reportedly made many of those mentioned in it, rush for toilet papers as the manner in which it has been released was full of sensation and drama. The report, dubbed by numerous media as “Panama Leaks” reportedly made many pent leaks as the white collared political leaders, showbiz personalities, eminent businessmen and tycoons and sportsmen landed into an acute panic due to little clarity of the actual state of the affairs in the report. The report, described as rather vague  by certain senior media professionals across the world has created a stir in many countries as many heads of States and Heads of governments are named in this scandal but with little details of what they were actually named for, amidst the disclaimer by the publishers that they were not sure that named persons were involved in any illegal activity by keeping offshore companies in Panama. While some terms the report as blackmailing tactic, claiming that by sending questioners to certain named individuals, about the  content of the report in advance, deemed to have settle many under the table deals with them by the reporting syndicate and in lieu, the said individuals were provided with a rescue space, many others say that report has just targeted a couple of individuals including the Russian President with enough research material and with apparent fair legwork, rest of the persons named in the report are just dragged to make the report a global attraction.

Agencies Add: A massive leak of secret files from a Panamanian law firm that specialises in offshore tax havens has revealed the often-murky financial wheelings and dealings of some of the world’s most powerful political players, such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the king of Saudi Arabia, Iceland’s prime minister and the family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, among dozens of others.

In a data dump that is described as being larger than leaked US diplomatic cables, around 2.6 terabytes of information drawn from the internal database of Mossack Fonseca has been made public.

The data from the Panama Papers, available on the website of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists — one of around 100 news organisations and 300 journalists that worked on mining the data simultaneously — also reveals the offshore holdings of members of Prime Minister Sharif’s family.

According to documents available on the ICIJ website, the PM’s children Mariam, Hasan and Hussain “were owners or had the right to authorise transactions for several companies”.

Mariam is described as “the owner of British Virgin Islands-based firms Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited, incorporated in 1994 and 1993”.

On one of the documents released by ICIJ, the address listed for Nielsen Enterprises is Saroor Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The document, dated June 2012, describes Mariam Safdar as the ‘beneficial owner’.

According to ICIJ, “Hussain and Mariam signed a document dated June 2007 that was part of a series of transactions in which Deutsche Bank Geneva lent up to $13.8 million to Nescoll, Nielsen and another company, with their London properties as collateral.”

In July 2014, the two companies were transferred to another agent.

Hasan Nawaz Sharif is described as “the sole director of Hangon Property Holdings Limited incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in February 2007, which acquired Liberia-based firm Cascon Holdings Establishment Limited for about $11.2 million in August 2007”.

But the papers are not necessarily evidence of wrongdoing. According to The Guardian, using offshore structures is entirely legal.

“There are many legitimate reasons for doing so. Business people in countries such as Russia and Ukraine typically put their assets offshore to defend them from `raids’ by criminals, and to get around hard currency restrictions,” the paper said in an explanatory note.

Leaders such as the presidents of Ukraine, Argentina, UAE; as well as relatives of UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Syrian leader Bashaar al-Assad, a former Chinese PM, as well as the son of former UN chief Kofi Anan are also mentioned in the leaked documents. It is expected that the data leak will yield more information in days to come.

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