Senior economist Dr Ikramul Haq has said that the introduction of a new law regarding offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands will be a bigger bombshell than the Panama Papers.

“Not only Pakistan but the world will be jolted by this development. A new law will be imposed on the world from January 1, 2024, which will result in the likely release of data on tax havens such as the Virgin Islands. Companies will have to disclose the names of their beneficial owners in these tax havens,” he told Imran Sultan on his show Dus which was aired on Aaj News on Friday.

According to him, not only governments but also common people will also be able to see the beneficial owners of such offshore companies online.

For Dr Haq, Pakistanis withdrew their assets from Swiss banks after the Swiss government faced questions from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“They [Pakistanis] parked their money in the Virgin Islands. Pakistanis’ assets came down to $2 billion from $19 billion in Swiss banks after the OECD introduced strict measures for the Swiss banks,” he said.

He expressed dismay over the tax amnesty given to 475 people in 2018-19 whose names were in the Panama Papers.

“They whitened their money through that amnesty while a person [Nawaz Sharif] was targeted. By this logic, he also should have been given amnesty as public holders also benefited from this scheme,” Dr Haq said.