FBR begins probing 31 Pakistanis named in Paradise Leaks
Records of the individuals have been summoned from relevant authorities, it has been learnt
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) began investigating 31 Pakistanis named in the Paradise Leaks on Tuesday.
The FBR solicited detailed information of the individuals named in the documents from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), it has been learnt.
Authorities have requested the FIA to provide ten-year travel history of these individuals and the SECP to provide details of companies registered under their names, along with other information.
The FIA and the SECP have already provided details of 13 individuals, a majority of whom hold more than one passports and have 86 companies registered under their names, to the FBR.
Earlier this month, an FBR spokesperson had said that theauthorities had been examining the Paradise Leaks.
The papers mention the names of 135 Pakistani nationals, including former prime minister Shaukat Aziz.
Pakistanis, whose name have appeared in the latest data dump of financial papers, were to be issued a notice in the regard.
What is Paradise Papers?
The Paradise Papers is a database comprising around 13.4 million documents, which reveals over 25000 companies owned by the world's rich and influential individuals.
The documents were obtained from two companies in Singapore and Bermuda by a German newspaper and shared with the ICIJ. A major part of the Panama Papers comprises leaked files from company 'Appleby'.
The files reveal data of over 25,000 companies owned by individuals from 180 countries, from 1950 to 2016.
Number of politicians and public officials
Paradise Papers: 127 politicians and public officials (14 current or former country leaders included) from more than 47 countries
Panama Papers: 140 politicians and public officials from more than 50 countries
Which leak is the bigger than other?
Paradise Papers is bigger in the number of records (13.5 million in Paradise Papers vs. 11.5 million in Panama Papers) and Panama Papers is bigger in terms of the size of the leak (1.4 Tb in Paradise Papers vs. 2.6 Tb in Panama Papers).
It is one of the biggest leaks in the history of journalism instead of the biggest, and then one may also compare some of the different figures related to the data size between Paradise Papers and previous leaks.