Panama, Pandora Papers: JI prays SC to proceed against those named in lists

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan, on Monday requested the Supreme Court to take action against persons whose names had appeared in the Panama and Pandora Papers, holding offshore entities.

In this regard, Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami, Siraj-ul-Haq, filed a civil miscellaneous application in the Constitutional petition earlier filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, seeking action against persons featuring in the Panama Papers. He had made the Federation and four others as respondents.

Filed through Advocate Ishtiaq Ahmed Raja, the JI Ameer filed additional documents in the earlier petition and prayed that by allowing this petition, the names of persons involved in transfer of public money as mentioned in Pandora Papers also be allowed to be brought on the file for the purpose of inquiry/investigation.

He recalled that he had filed the earlier petition, when International Consortium of Investigation Journalists (ICIJ) disclosed the establishment of offshore companies registered in Panama, whereby illegal public money was being transferred from different countries. He said that the disclosure titled as Panama Leaks also mentioned Pakistanis,who were involved in this practice.

“The ICIJ continued to investigate the illegal transfer of funds through the said established companies and now the consortium has once again published the list of persons involved in transferring such public money,” the JI chief submitted.