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PanamaPapersrevealShariffamilysoffshoreholdingsPakistanDAWN.COM

Panama Papers reveal Sharif

familys oshore holdings
HASSAN BELAL ZAIDI UPDATED ABOUT 7 HOURS AGO

ISLAMABAD: A massive leak of secret files from a

Panamanian law firm that specialises in offshore tax
havens has revealed the often-murky financial wheelings
and dealings of some of the worlds most powerful political
players, such as Russias Vladimir Putin, the king of Saudi

Arabia, Icelands prime minister and the family of Prime

Minister Nawaz Sharif, among dozens of others.

In a data dump that is described as being larger than leaked

US diplomatic cables, around 2.6 terabytes of information
drawn from the internal database of Mossack Fonseca has
been made public.
The data from the Panama Papers, available on the website
of the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists one of around 100 news organisations and
300 journalists that worked on mining the data
simultaneously also reveals the offshore holdings of
members of Prime Minister Sharifs family.
According to documents available on the ICIJ website, the
PMs 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

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Mariam is described as the owner of British Virgin

Islands-based firms Nielsen Enterprises Limited and

Nescoll Limited, incorporated in 1994 and 1993.
On one of the documents released by ICIJ, the address
listed for Nielsen Enterprises is Saroor Palace in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia. The document, dated June 2012, describes
Mariam Safdar as the beneficial owner.
According to ICIJ, Hussain and Mariam signed a document
dated June 2007 that was part of a series of transactions in
which Deutsche Bank Geneva lent up to $13.8 million to
Nescoll, Nielsen and another company, with their London
properties as collateral.
In July 2014, the two companies were transferred to
another agent.
Hasan Nawaz Sharif is described as the sole director of
Hangon Property Holdings Limited incorporated in the
British Virgin Islands in February 2007, which acquired
Liberia-based firm Cascon Holdings Establishment
Limited for about $11.2 million in August 2007.
But the papers are not necessarily evidence of wrongdoing.
According to The Guardian, using offshore structures is
entirely legal.
There are many legitimate reasons for doing so. Business
people in countries such as Russia and Ukraine typically
put their assets offshore to defend them from `raids by
criminals, and to get around hard currency restrictions,
the paper said in an explanatory note.
Leaders such as the presidents of Ukraine, Argentina, UAE;

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Leaders such as the presidents of Ukraine, Argentina, UAE;

as well as relatives of UK Prime Minister David Cameron,
Syrian leader Bashaar al-Assad, a former Chinese PM, as
well as the son of former UN chief Kofi Anan are also
mentioned in the leaked documents. It is expected that the
data leak will yield more information in days to come.

Panama Papers

Nawaz Sharif
Prime Minister of Pakistan (1990-1993) (19971999) (2013-present)
Relatives in the data: Mariam Safdar, Hasan and
Hussain Nawaz Sharif
Related countries
Pakistan
United Kingdom
Mariam Safdar, Daughter

Read the story

Explore the data Mariam Safdar

Controversy has long engulfed Pakistan Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharifs family, including three of his four children
Mariam, Hasan and Hussain over their riches from a
network of businesses that include steel, sugar and paper
mills and extensive international property holdings. At
various times, depending on the political party in power,
the Sharifs one of Pakistans richest families have been
accused of corruption, ownership of illegal assets, tax
avoidance and money laundering. Mariam, Hussain and
their father have been detained on such charges, exiled to

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