Another global scandal same like Panama Papers unfolded as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released "Pandora Papers" Sunday.
The report named Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi, Senator Faisal Vawda, Ishaq Dar’s son, PPP’s Sharjeel Memon, the family of Minister for Industries and Production Khusro Bakhtiar, PTI leader Abdul Aleem Khan, among others, with alleged links to offshore companies.
Some retired army officials, businessmen, and media owners, including Axact’s CEO Shoaib Sheikh, have also been named in Pandora Papers.
The ICIJ also released a report titled "Prime Minister Imran Khan promised ‘new Pakistan’ but members of his inner circle secretly moved millions offshore."
According to the report released, the leaked documents revealed that "key members" of Prime Minister Imran's inner circle, including cabinet ministers and their families "have secretly owned an array of companies and trusts holding millions of dollars of hidden wealth".
The ICIJ released files expose the secret offshore affairs of 35 world leaders, including current and former presidents, prime ministers and heads of state. They also shine a light on the secret finances of more than 300 other public officials such as government ministers, judges, mayors and military generals in more than 90 countries.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released 11.9 million documents on Sunday night. As many as 600 journalists and 150 media organizations from 117 countries have participated in this investigation.
Pandora Papers is a development to what has earlier been revealed in the Panama Papers.
According to ICIJ, the Pandora Papers project includes financial details of important personalities from 117 countries including Pakistan. From Pakistan, investigative journalists Umar Cheema and Fakhar Durrani were part of the investigation.
This leak has uncovered the finances of more leaders and public officials than the Panama Papers did and provided more than twice as much information about the ownership of offshore companies. The Panama Papers were based on the data of a Panama-based law firm called Mossack Fonseca that revealed offshore holdings of 140 politicians, public offshore and sports stars.
Those documents were obtained by the German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, which contained records dating back 40 years.
ICIJ shared data with 150 media organizations and led the broadest collaboration in the history of journalism. It took ICIJ almost two years to organize the investigation. About 400 journalists from 80 countries participated in the investigation for the Panama Papers.
The "Pandora Papers" are even bigger and contain more revelations about politicians and government officials than ever before. From Pakistan, more than 400 people appeared in the Panama Papers. The number of Pakistanis in Pandora Papers is much higher.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which investigates Pandora Papers, said on Twitter: "Get ready for our largest collaboration to date."
