Dingens said:

I wish other countries would've followed up on it too... but it just wasn't shocking enough I guess?

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Dingens said:

I wish other countries would've followed up on it too... but it just wasn't shocking enough I guess?

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Poetic.Injustice said:

You probably remember the Panama leaks that happened almost a year ago, where it was revealed how the world's elite stored their ill-gotten wealth through offshore companies.

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Poetic.Injustice said:

All the country's law enforcement agencies have been exposed as being in the PM's pocket, being complicit with his corruption and refusing to investigate it outright.

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Hexa said:

You say this as if it wasn't already well known. I would have been incredibly shocked if anything had come of this . When everyone from elementary school teachers to the Prime Minister are corrupt as hell, what are you expecting?

The massive protest with Imran was cool though. I remember watching that live.

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orochi91 said:

Why are they the only country pursuing those leaks?

Everyone else seems to have swept this case under the rug.

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Lamel said:

This is actually incredibly important for the country. Corruption has run rampant in the government and it needs to be shown that there are consequences. Ultimately it's the people who suffer and the politicians profit.

Thanks for updating OP, I'll follow it from here on.

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ISLAMABAD: A Supreme Court judge on Tuesday observed that the apex court's verdict in the Panamagate case will set a precedent which will be remembered for centuries.

”Our pronouncement on the Panama issue will be a law which will be endured for centuries," Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, who is part of the top court's larger bench which heard the Panamagate case, said in his remarks during the hearing of an appeal filed by the Punjab government against the Lahore High Court's order suspending the construction of the Orange Line Metro Train project.

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orochi91 said:

Why are they the only country pursuing those leaks?

Everyone else seems to have swept this case under the rug.

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"Having property is not illegal. The Sharif family is not at all corrupt and insh'allah (God willing) we will prove it one day," Mrs Sharif said recently. "The Park Lane flats were bought because the children were studying in London."

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Steeped in a Sea of Games said:

I know not many people are posting in this, but I hope you post the result. I'm interested in knowing what happens and it doesn't seem to have any traction anywhere.

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orochi91 said:

Why are they the only country pursuing those leaks?

Everyone else seems to have swept this case under the rug.

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orochi91 said:

Why are they the only country pursuing those leaks?

Everyone else seems to have swept this case under the rug.

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orochi91 said:

Why are they the only country pursuing those leaks?

Everyone else seems to have swept this case under the rug.

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BlackGoku03 said:

Hopefully they won't have to run for their lives.

I hate how much rich folks get away with shit.

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Poetic.Injustice said:

Thanks, it is kind of discouraging when no one replies and I tend to feel that posting about this stuff on GAF is a waste of time.

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Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali raised a question about the addition of Rs1.96m in Maryam Nawaz's wealth which she attributed to a BMW car gifted to her by her father.

"How could a second hand car raise that kind of money?" the CJP asked.

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RustyNails said:

Bring back Musharraf.

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Poetic.Injustice said:

During the trial, there have been a lot of funny moments with the prime minister's defense. But one that stands out to me is the case of Maryam's(PM daughter) BMW.



https://www.dawn.com/news/1300833

Basically Maryam claimed she got 1.96 million rupees($190,000) in profit from selling a used car that had a market value of 35,00,000 rupees($33,000).

This led to a lot of jokes about a golden egg laying BMW making the rounds.

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Ogodei said:

Insane corruption from Sharif was part of the reason for the 1999 Musharraf coup, right?

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While Benazir Bhutto hated the generals for executing her father, Nawaz Sharif early on figured out that they held the real power in Pakistan. His father had established a foundry in 1939 and, together with six brothers, had struggled for years only to see their business nationalized by Ali Bhutto's regime in 1972. This sealed decades of enmity between the Bhuttos and the Sharifs. Following the military coup and General Zia's assumption of power, the business—Ittefaq—was returned to family hands in 1980. Nawaz Sharif became a director and cultivated relations with senior military officers. This led to his appointment as finance minister of Punjab and then election as chief minister of this most populous province in 1985. During the 1980s and early 1990s, given Sharif 's political control of Punjab and eventual prime ministership of the country, Ittefaq Industries grew from its original single foundry into 30 businesses producing steel, sugar, paper, and textiles, with combined revenues of $400 million, making it one of the biggest private conglomerates in the nation. As in many other countries, when you control the political realm, you can get anything you want in the economic realm.

With Lahore, the capital of Punjab, serving as the seat of the family's power, one of the first things Sharif did upon becoming prime minister in 1990 was build his long-dreamed-of superhighway from there to the capital,Islamabad. Estimated to cost 8.5 billion rupees, the project went through two biddings. Daewoo of Korea, strengthening its proposals with midnight meetings, was the highest bidder both times, so obviously it won the contract and delivered the job at well over 20 billion rupees.

A new highway needs new cars. Sharif authorized importation of 50,000 vehicles duty free, reportedly costing the government $700 million in lost customs duties. Banks were forced to make loans for vehicle purchases to would-be taxi cab drivers upon receipt of a 10 percent deposit. Borrowers got their ”Nawaz Sharif cabs," and some 60 percent of them promptly defaulted. This left the banks with $500 million or so in unpaid loans. Vehicle dealers reportedly made a killing and expressed their appreciation in expected ways. Under Sharif, unpaid bank loans and massive tax evasion remained the favorite ways to get rich. Upon his loss of power the usurping government published a list of 322 of the largest loan defaulters, representing almost $3 billion out of $4 billion owed to banks. Sharif and his family were tagged for $60 million. The Ittefaq Group went bankrupt in 1993 when Sharif lost his premiership the first time. By then only three units in the group were operational, and loan defaults of the remaining companies totaled some 5.7 billion rupees, more than $100 million.

Like Bhutto, offshore companies have been linked to Sharif, three in the British Virgin Islands by the names of Nescoll, Nielson, and Shamrock and another in the Channel Islands known as Chandron Jersey Pvt. Ltd. Some of these entities allegedly were used to facilitate purchase of four rather grand flats on Park Lane in London, at various times occupied by Sharif family members. Reportedly, payment transfers were made to Banque Paribas en Suisse, which then instructed Sharif 's offshore companies Nescoll and Nielson to purchase the four luxury suites.

In her second term, Benazir Bhutto had Pakistan's Federal Investigating Agency begin a probe into the financial affairs of Nawaz Sharif and his family. The probe was headed by Rehman Malik, deputy director general of the agency. Malik had fortified his reputation earlier by aiding in the arrest of Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. During Sharif 's second term, the draft report of the investigation was suppressed, Malik was jailed for a year, and later reportedly survived an assassination attempt, after which he fled to London. The Malik report, five years in the making, was released in 1998, with explosive revelations:

The records, including government documents, signed affidavits from Pakistani officials, bank files and property records, detail deals that Mr. Malik says benefited Mr. Sharif, his family and his political associates:

At least $160 million pocketed from a contract to build a highway from Lahore, his home town, to Islamabad, the nation's capital.
At least $140 million in unsecured loans from Pakistan's state banks.
More than $60 million generated from government rebates on sugar exported by mills controlled by Mr. Sharif and his business associates.
At least $58 million skimmed from inflated prices paid for imported wheat from the United States and Canada. In the wheat deal, Mr. Sharif 's government paid prices far above market value to a private company owned by a close associate of his in Washington, the records show. Falsely inflated invoices for the wheat generated tens of millions of dollars in cash.

The report went on to state that ”The extent and magnitude of this corruption is so staggering that it has put the very integrity of the country at stake." In an interview, Malik added: ”No other leader of Pakistan has taken that much money from the banks. There is no rule of law in Pakistan. It doesn't exist."

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Islamabad: With the final verdict in the Panamagate case fast approaching, banners vowing to “shed blood” for leaders of Pakistan’s ruling party have been put up in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Hours after the apex court announced the time it would deliver its verdict in the Panama Papers case, hundreds of banners and posters in favour of the ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) appeared on the streets in two cities.

The posters, with pictures of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, bear the lines: “Quaid Tera Aik Ishara Hazir Hazir Lahu Hamara” (Chief we are ready to shed blood on your call).

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RustyNails said:

Bring back Musharraf.

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LewieP said:

Yeah I guess in the UK everyone pretty much forgot about it.

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AAK said:

Nothing is going to change.

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