A day after the embarrassing Panama Papers’ controversy made headlines around the world and in Pakistan, PML-N ministers came forward to defend Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family from accusations of money laundering and financial embezzlement.
Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif said forming off-shore companies was not illegal. Meanwhile, Rana Sanaullah in his usual demeanor, called out critics of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and said that previously, allegations such as these had also been made against the Sharif family.
He said that these were not Panama Leaks but instead, satanic leaks.
Yesterday, the Panama Papers controversy put the ruling PML-N party and its chief Nawaz Sharif on the back foot. The leaked documents reveal that Sharif is also one of several world leaders whose immediate family members hold off-shore companies. Allegations of money laundering, tax evasion and financial embezzlement were hurled at the Sharif family by political opponents.
Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif do not directly own any off-shore company in their own name. Hussain, Hassan and Maryam Nawaz, all children of Nawaz Sharif, own the off-shore companies which generated an outcry among the people of Pakistan.
