Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan has formed a special, high-level cell to probe the Pandora Papers leaks, Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said Monday.

In a series of tweets, Fawad Chaudhry said Prime Minister Imran Khan had constituted a high-level cell, under PM’s Inspection Commission, to investigate all citizens named in the Pandora Papers. He announced the development in which he also mentioned the function of the investigation cell. The minister said the cell would seek an explanation from all those citizens who were named in the Pandora Papers to publicize the facts.

“It is very unfortunate that names of some major media houses’ owners have also been included in the Pandora Leaks while allegations of money laundering have also been leveled against some of them. Therefore, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is going to launch a transparent investigation in this regard, while the PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) is being asked to seek explanation [from them],” he tweeted.

According to the exposé, Jang group editor-in-chief Mir Shakilur Rehman, Dawn CEO Hameed Haroon and Express Media Group CEO Sultan Ali Lakhani also owned offshore companies. The report said that the Gourmet group, which owns TV channel GNN, also owned an offshore company, Gourmet Holdings Limited in the BVI jurisdiction, and had appointed an employee, Amna Butt, as its director. Renowned journalist and editor of Pakistan Today, late Arif Nizami was also among those who had their names in the report. He owned New Mile Production Limited in BVI that was incorporated in July 2000 with him and his wife declared as its beneficial owners.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Monday said that the investigation cell constituted by Prime Minister Imran Khan would determine whether the public office holders named in Pandora Papers had declared their offshore assets in tax returns or not. In a tweet, he said if it was found in the investigation report of the cell that the public office holders had not declared their offshore assets then a corruption case would be referred to National Accountability Bureau (NAB). In case of money laundering, the matter would be sent to FIA while the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) would investigate tax evasion if the person was not a public office holder, he added.

Farrukh Habib said all ministers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had already declared their assets before the department concerned. He said there was no ambiguity about holding assets by the PTI ministers. He said it was strange that few names of media houses were also found in the reports of Pandora Papers. If anyone found guilty or allegedly involved in money laundering, he said, the country’s law would take action against the responsible. A cell had been formed to probe the matter of Pandora Papers, he added.

Farrukh Habib said the revelations made in Pandora Papers had disappointed the ‘euphoric’ opposition. According to the International Consortium of International Journalists (ICIJ), Prime Minister Imran Khan did not own any off shore company, the minister said. Honesty and righteousness of PM Imran has also been proved at international level, he added.

Separately, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar said Prime Minister Imran Khan had constituted a committee to investigate the people mentioned in the Pandora Papers. Talking to a private news channel, he said the offshore company owners would be investigated and if found guilty, the government would deal them with an iron hand. He said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government would not spare people allegedly involved in corrupt activities.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Imran Khan on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill said the government would investigate the people mentioned in the Pandora Papers.

Talking to a private news channel, he said the government would take action against those who had not declared offshore companies in the Federal Board of Revenue’s record. He said whosoever owned the offshore companies in the government would himself be answerable and action to be taken according to the law of land irrespectively. Dr Gill said the government was also working against those who were spreading fake news on media.