Islamabad: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif defended the offshore companies of children of the prime minister, his elder brother, in an interview to a private television channel.
He said Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, sons of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, had been away from the country and doing business abroad for the last many years and that Pakistani tax laws does not apply to them.
Shahbaz said the companies they formed worked under the laws of the respective countries that they are residing in and were not illegal.
Moreover, he said, the prime minister and his wife have not received any benefit from these businesses.
He said the children will however be answerable to the inquiry commission to be set up as announced on April 5 by the prime minister, who is currently in London for medical treatment.
“They tell whether any money has been transferred illegally. What else can the prime minister possible do,” the chief minister said.
Shahbaz said Panama Paper leaks revealed names of more than 200 Pakistanis but only the sons of the prime minister were being targeted. “The names of all these people should also be discussed,” he said.
The Punjab chief minister said the proposed commission to probe the leaks will also investigate cases of domestic corruption.
“The commission, once formed, will not limit itself just to Panama Papers leaks but will probe all the offshore businesses of Pakistanis across the world,” Shahbaz said in the interview given to Express News on Friday.
Local TV channels on Saturday reported substantive progress in efforts to shape up a probe commission.
The reports, which could not be officially confirmed, said former top court judge Sarmad Jalal Usmani has agreed to head the proposed commission but has put up certain conditions.
Several retired judges of the Supreme Court who were approached by the government earlier had declined to lead the proposed commission.
Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) of Imran Khan reiterated Saturday its stand that a probe commission be headed by the country’s sitting chief justice.