Daily Times

Some nervous clients of Mossack Fonseca asked if their secrets were safe. The law firm told them not to fret; its data centre was safe as the house. Whoops. A few weeks ago, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), published the first stories based on a trove of leaked data on Mossack Fonseca’s clients. The leaker (whose identity has not been revealed) provided the ICIJ with 11.5 million files covering nearly 40 years. The Panama Papers, as they have been dubbed, unveil the offshore holdings of more than 140 politicians and officials, including 12 current and former presidents, monarchs and prime ministers. They show how money was moved around and hidden by at least 33 people, and companies blacklisted by the United States for allegedly doing business with rogue states, terrorists or drug barons. The sums involved are huge, and so are some of the names.

Generally, however, there is no alternative to the unglamorous and practical work of implementing international accords to reduce the market for offshore financial engineering. Most tax havens are either territories belonging to rich countries such as the UK, the US or the Netherlands, or they are developing countries such as Panama that survive on low taxes and lax laws on disclosure as a way of making money from brass plates. Making one location less attractive to global capital merely pushes money to others.

The leak of the Panama Papers has done the world a huge service. Political upheave has been made in tackling tax avoidance in Pakistan, but these leaks remind of the need for continued focus on the problem. The leak of the Panama Papers is in itself one of the most effective anti-tax-avoidance measures ever devised. We should acknowledge that, despite the prime minister’s embarrassment about his children names appearing in the leaked documents, the team he leads has worked fairly hard on this subject. Fairly hard, they have kept his reputation alive over TV news channels in the constant struggle to deal with a complex, changing and ultimately intractable problem.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) did put tax transparency on the agenda for the Terms of Reference in the joint opposition agenda, but it is ironic that this spotlight should have turned to shine on its own leader’s finances and financial supporters, although Aleem Khan, Zulfiqar Bukhari and Jehangir Tareen registered businesses for investment funds were legitimate. What is more, Khurshid Shah is entitled to point out that a lot of international work has been done in recent years to reduce secrecy. A ‘Swiss bank account’, for example, is no longer a synonym for uncountable, unaccountable and morally questionable money when it comes to the Pakistan People’s Party.

The brother-in-law of China’s president, the children of Pakistan’s prime minister, and the cousins of Syria’s dictator all did business with Mossack Fonseca. So did the late father of David Cameron, Britain’s prime minister. The law firm denies wrongdoing, as do many of its clients. And indeed, there are plenty of legitimate reasons for using offshore companies or bank accounts. Corruption makes the world poorer and less equal. When prime ministers and politicians steal, they reduce the amount of public cash left over for health and education. When they give under-the-desk contracts to their cronies and relatives, they defraud taxpayers and deter honest firms from investing in their country. All this straps growth.

Cleaning up tax havens will not end political corruption. And then the core question: after these revelations, will there be any real change? Many formal denials and pledges of official investigations have been made. But to what degree do the law and public shaming still have dominion over this political elite? The UK is hosting a global anti-corruption summit this week. Britain is leading the way by creating central registers of beneficial ownership that are open to tax officials, law-enforcers and the public to stop many schemes described in the Panama Papers that involve anonymous shell companies, whose real owners hide behind hired nominees. Such nominees are called the getaway cars for money launderers and crooked politicians and tax dodgers. It is time to throw out an extra layer of protection against those who pry and weed out the dishonest ones. The PTI and all other opposition parties in alliance should follow that principle rather than protesting in rallies and putting political pressure through opportunistic alliances.

Instead of talking about heads rolling, they should speak in parliament about regulating law firms and other intermediaries that set up and husband offshore companies and trusts. They are supposed to know their clients. Rallies and debates on talk shows are a political distraction, and both opposition and government are using this to their advantage. The PTI and other opposition parties should make great efforts to ensure that global banks comply with anti-money-laundering rules when this shadow financial system is being barely policed. That must change. Imran Khan could start in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by making it a criminal offence for anyone to enable tax evasion. Penalties for lying when registering a firm should be stiff. The Panama Papers have given Khan just the platform he needs to persuade others in government, opposition and his own party, to turn their tough talk of recent years into action.

The prime responsibility for this lies with leaders, many of which should do more to make their finances transparent and their safeguards against cronyism strict and precise. But it would help if corrupt leaders and politicians were less able to hide their loot. Hence forensic global efforts are required to crack down on corporate anonymity and to stop intermediaries who make it so easy for cheats to launder their loot. That is, however, very hard to be sure of because they all operate behind a thick veil of secrecy. Indeed, in the face of this deluge of revelations, it is entirely understandable and almost inevitable that people will suspect the worst of their rulers.

The writer is a professor of psychiatry and consultant forensic psychiatrist in the UK. He can be contacted at fawad_shifa@yahoo.com