How the Panama Papers Changed Pakistani Politics
Mr. Sharif’s name never appears in the Panama Papers,
but three of his six children – Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Hasan Nawaz Sharif and Hussain Nawaz Sharif – were determined to have purchased luxury properties in London using offshore holdings.
His daughter Maryam, once seen as his likely political successor, was listed as the owner of two British Virgin Islands-based shell companies – Nielsen Enterprises Limited
and Nescoll Limited – which were set up in the early 1990s, just after her father’s first term as prime minister ended.
According to detailed reports from the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), who first released the Panama Papers in early 2016 after a yearlong investigation, Mr. Sharif’s three children headed companies
that owned four luxury flats in London’s Park Lane neighborhood.
By MEGAN SPECIAJULY 28, 2017
The Pakistani Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was based on corruption accusations
stemming from the Panama Papers, a trove of leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Lawyers for the country’s opposition told the court
that because Maryam Sharif was underage at the time the business was set up under her name, the company would actually be owned by the prime minister.
Maryam and Hasan Nawaz Sharif signed paperwork in 2007
that was part of a series of transactions in which Deutsche Bank Geneva lent up to $13.8 million to the companies with their London properties as collateral.