Panama papers: Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif orders judicial commission to probe claims

Following the Panama Papers leak, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on 5 April ordered a high-level judicial team to probe his family after the expose revealed that his sons and daughter owned offshore companies. According to documents available on the ICIJ website, Sharif's children Mariam, Hasan and Hussain "were owners or had the right to authorise transactions for several companies". Mariam is described as "the owner of British Virgin Islands-based firms Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited, incorporated in 1994 and 1993".

In response to the massive backlash he received by his opponents following the expose, the Prime Minister said that there was an agenda against him and that certain people were digging issues from decades ago.

Sharif said that the judicial commission will be led by a retired Supreme Court judge, a Dawn report said. "My family has faced a barrage of accusations," Sharif said.

He also invited all politicians accusing him and his family to present evidence of any financial wrongdoing before the judicial commission.

"My father started working in Lahore 25 years before the creation of Pakistan, and by the time of independence, Ittefaq foundries had already achieved success." He said.

He added that another industrial plant was also established in Dhaka, but was lost with the fall of East Pakistan in 1971. He said:

"On 2 January, 1972, Bhutto took over the foundry in Lahore, and hence our assets were lost in mere moments. My family was not involved in politics till much later, as such, even before I got into politics, we were an established industrial family".

The Prime Minister further stated that his father established another industrial plant in Makkah, following the military coup in 1999. The plant was later sold, and his sons 'invested the funds into their businesses.'

-with inputs from ANI