Pandora Players

In Pakistan, it is viewed in dim light for some genuine reasons. Ever since Pakistan came into existence, its leaders left the country for good while stashing away their wealth in safe havens prior to their departure. Their wealth kept multiplying over time. At the same time, their wealth in their tax returns did not increase in accordance with their wealth increase. Wealthy politicians, businesspersons and government employees were deliberately hiding their wealth in order to evade tax. Surely, something was wrong somewhere and needed to be hidden from the authorities. Hardly any ruler in Pakistan after their retirement stayed away from politics. Such developments shaped the collective public mindset that the stashed away wealth came from the loot and plunder of public wealth. According to the Pandora Papers, Pakistanis are the fifth largest investors in the UK real estate sector.

It is not the first time that the names of Pakistanis have appeared in offshore companies. Earlier, the Panama Papers contained the names of bigwigs. Unfortunately, except the former prime minister, hardly anyone has been questioned about the source of their wealth parked abroad. Consequently, organized capital flight from Pakistan has created a series of problems. Due to low tax collection and soaring debt and liabilities, which currently stand at Rs. 45 trillion, ultimately, the masses have to bear the brunt. As the tax collection target is never attained from year to year, the government increases the rate of indirect tax instead of direct taxes. Hence, more and more burden is thrust upon the downtrodden segments of society.

It has become impossible now to question the source of wealth of all those Pakistanis whose money is hidden in the European capitals and the Arabian Peninsula, particularly, who have been exposed by the Panama, Paradise and Pandora Leaks.

Prime Minister Imran after the release of these papers, tweeted,“We welcome the Pandora Papers exposing the ill-gotten wealth of elites, accumulated through tax evasion and corruption and [sic] laundered out to financial “havens”.” He has rightly attributed poverty and other socio-economic issues to corruption whose roots lie in tax avoidance by the elite. “My over two decades struggle has been premised on the belief that countries are not poor but corruption causes poverty because money is diverted from being invested in our people. Also, this resource-theft causes devaluation, leading to thousands of poverty-related deaths.”

The Prime Minister assured that, “My govt [sic] will investigate all our citizens mentioned in the Pandora Papers and [sic] if any wrongdoing is established, we will take appropriate action. I call on the international community to treat this grave injustice as similar to the climate change Will any substance come out of this investigation? Unfortunately, if history serves as a guide to the future, there will be a negative response. The Pandora Papers would also become irrelevant like Panama, Paradise and other such documents over time, in view of our collective behaviours. The media will be silent, the rich involved in illegal activities will hire influential lawyers to seek stay order from courts and they will be forgotten.

For the incumbent government, it is a test case. They must bring the investigation to its logical conclusion and punish those involved in parking their wealth abroad. The PTI government came into power on the basis of their slogan of ‘anti-corruption’ and ‘accountability across the board’. Therefore, it is high time for Prime Minister Imran Khan to translate his vision into reality by prosecuting those involved in illegal activities. This will also give confidence to the people that the rule of law reigns supreme.