FBR to investigate Pakistanis named in Paradise Leaks

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is examining the Paradise Leaks papers, said a spokesperson from the organisation on Monday. 

The papers mention the names of 135 Pakistani nationals, including former prime minister Shaukat Aziz. 

Pakistanis, whose name has appeared in the latest data dump of financial papers, will be issued a notice in the regard. 

The spokesperson added that the list of names is extensive and all those Pakistani nationals named in the papers will be investigated, added the FBR statement. 

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 number of records (13.5 million in Paradise Papers vs. 11.5 million in Panama Papers) and Panama Papers is bigger in terms of 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.