ICIJ has published a story in which it assesses the
impact of Panama papers in various countries, three years after the story broke
in 2016. Surprisingly, Pakistan is not mentioned in the story at all despite
the fact that the story had the most profound impact on this country. This
article summaries the impact and ramifications of Panama Papers in Pakistan
during the last 3 years.
Some 436 Pakistanis were named in the Panama papers. The
elected prime minister of Pakistan at the time Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was NOT one of them. Despite
this, the Panama papers story was spun to make Nawaz Sharif the central
character in the affair by ICIJ’s country representative. Nawaz Sharif’s son
was named in the story who is a permanent British resident with a long
established property business in the country. Nawaz Sharif's picture was
prominently displayed on the front page of Pakistani newspapers and on ICIJ
website (later removed). The opposition and the military establishment in
Pakistan saw the story as an opportunity to topple a popularly elected
government. The matter was taken to the Supreme Court by the opposition which
declined to hear the case calling it “frivolous”. The establishment in
connivance with the opposition staged an unpopular public protest which failed
to build any momentum The supreme court was pressured by the establishment
behind the scenes and it suddenly took suo moto
notice of a matter it had previously called frivolous. The court ordered
an inquiry into the matter. Five Pakistani agencies were asked to name members
for the inquiry commission. It was later revealed that the Supreme Court
secretly handpicked these members by sending WhatsApp messages to the heads of
the agencies. Nawaz Sharif and his sons cooperated with the inquiry commission.
His son submitted documents to establish legal acquisition of the mentioned
properties. The inquiry commission, however, refused to travel outside Pakistan
to verify these documents. Despite a one-sided inquiry, no link could be
established between Nawaz Sharif and a few London apartments owned by his son.
The Supreme Court however, still removed Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister on
the basis of a matter totally unrelated to Panama papers. He was found guilty
of not declaring a salary in his nomination papers. The salary was a paper
arrangement between Nawaz Sharif and his son to enable him to get a resident
visa in the UAE. The small amount (few thousand dollars neither paid nor
received) was treated by the court as an undeclared asset. This was done
despite the fact that Pakistani tax laws do not classify a receivable salary as
an asset. Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from contesting elections for life for
this grave crime without the right to appeal the verdict. The Supreme Court
also directed the agencies to investigate the matter further setting up a
series of trials under its direct supervision in which Nawaz Sharif was
required to prove his innocence rather than the state being required to prove
his guilt. Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to 7 years in Jail in one trial; a
verdict which was later suspended by a higher court for lack of evidence. In a
second day-to-day trial, he was again sentenced to jail. The judge in the
second trial was later recorded on video confessing that he gave the verdict
under pressure from the establishment. Despite the admission, the verdict still
stands and the appeal is pending in the court awaiting hearing despite passage
of almost a year. Today, Nawaz Sharif is fighting for his life in a Pakistani
hospital after suspected poisoning in government custody. His daughter and
political heir apparent Maryam Nawaz Sharif, has also been implicated and
disqualified from contesting elections and jailed to prevent her from leading
an anti-establishment movement.
Opposition leader Imran Khan, who took to the streets
against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, came to power in an election rigged by the
establishment in 2018. The 436 Pakistanis who were actually named in the Panama papers (several from Imran’s own
party) were never prosecuted for their wealth abroad. Imran Khan launched an
amnesty scheme soon after coming to power allowing these Pakistanis to launder
their undeclared wealth for a nominal tax.