The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published online earlier yesterday detailed data from the Panama Papers trove on more than 200,000 secret offshore companies cataloguing the names of 259 Pakistanis who own shares in offshore companies.
The searchable database built on just a portion of the documents leaked from the Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca reveals more than 360,000 names of individuals and companies behind the anonymous shell firms, the ICIJ said. Previously, 220 Pakistanis were named by the ICIJ. The database identifies at least 259 Pakistani people or companies that had roles in offshore entities.
At least three entities, trust or funds created in a low-tax, offshore jurisdiction by agents were listed as linked to Pakistan.
It also lists five intermediaries or middle-men who go-between people and offshore corporations and offshore service providers.
Some of these companies date back to the 1980s and have defaulted or were suspended a long time ago, but some others were recent and listed as still active. They were listed in a number of international tax havens including Hong Kong, British Virgin Islands, Panama, Bahamas and Seychelles.
These include Faisal Maqbool Shaikh tied to the British Virgin Island firm Fern International Ltd.
Most of the Pakistani addresses used to register companies were from Karachi (65), followed by Lahore (43) and Islamabad (25).
According to TV channels, apart from the names of Maryam Nawaz and relatives of the Sharif family, the list includes names of Sadrudin Hashwani, Hussain Dawood, Mir Shakilur Rehman, Ali Siddiqui and many more.
Pakistanis registered 153 companies in the British Virgin Islands and 41 in Panama. The first offshore company was registered in 1988 by Mian Ziauddin and the latest was registered in 2015 by Majid Siddiqui.
Among those who owned shares in offshore companies included Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Osman Saifullah Khan owned shares in BVI companies Saif Capital Partners Limited (incorporated in May 2014), and separately UK Property Investment Limited (incorporated in August 2004). But both companies were listed in China.
Jehangir Saifullah Khan, related to Osman, owns shares and is a beneficiary of BVI based company Green Ridge Associates Limited which was incorporated in 2007 and is still active. It was created by intermediaries Dattani Chartered Accountants which is linked to 53 other companies owned by the Saifullah family. Most of these companies are still active.
Hussain Dawood owns shares in BVI-based Corlinio Limited (incorporated in January 2006 and still active). The company has eight listed shareholders including Abdul Samad Dawood, Shahzada Dawood, Zahra Batoonah, Saad Raja and Bazaar Investments and Razaran Limited. It is also linked to the Louvre Trust (Guernsey) Ltd intermediary in turn linked to 13 firms. Ali Siddiqui, son of Jehangir Siddiqui owned shares in the BVI company Novolance Limited incorporated in 2007.
Of the Soorty family, prominent business owners in Pakistan, was shareholder of the BVI-based Salwa International Limited (incorporated in 2011), Argyll Enterprises (incorporated in 2011).
Mir Shakilur Rehman owned BVI-based company Marine Properties Limited which was incorporated in July 2001 but has defaulted.
Pir Ali Gohar, son of Pir Abdul Kadir owned the BVI-based Jennheiser Holdings incorporated in July 2004 but has defaulted.
The Tabani family also owned a company, the BVI-based Wayfinder International Limited (incorporated in September 2007 and still active) with Younus Zakaria Tabani and Rukhsana Chaudhry Tabani linked.
It also includes name of Zain Iftekhar Sukhera, a close friend of a former prime minister’s son, owned the BVI-based Golden Waters Telecom (incorporated in January 2012).
Zulfiqar Bukhari, along with his sisters, owns six offshore companies including Factory Limited, Bradbury Resources Limited .
According to television channels the list also includes the names of Moonis Elahi, Aleem Khan, Benazir Bhutto and Rehman Malik.
Until now access to the total cache of 11.5 million documents, originally provided by a mysterious “John Doe”, was restricted to the ICIJ and a select group of international media.
While the database “allows users to explore the networks of companies and people that used – and sometimes abused – the secrecy of offshore locales with the help of Mossack Fonseca and other intermediaries,” the ICIJ said.
But it said it was not making available raw records online, nor was it putting all the information from the records out, in part to prevent access to some personal data and bank account details of those mentioned.