Pandora Papers set to bring another jolt in Pakistani politics

Several Pakistanis are reportedly to be on the Pandora Papers that a consortium of investigative journalists is going to release on Sunday.

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) announced on Saturday that it was going to release “our most expansive exposé of financial secrecy yet.”

ICIJ members had worked on 2016 Panama Papers that shook the capitals of several countries and lead to the downfall of governments, including that of Nawaz Sharif. The PandoraPapers would be released at 9:30pm on Sunday Pakistan standard time, according to an ICIJ tweet.

ICIJ in a tweet said: Are you ready for the #PandoraPapers? This new investigation is our most expansive exposé of financial secrecy yet. Coming tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. EDT, 4:30 p.m. GMT., it features reporting from more than 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries across the globe.”

https://twitter.com/ICIJorg/status/1444338930627883011

The expose “features reporting from more than 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries across the globe,” the ICIJ tweet said.

Journalist Umar Cheema is one of the 600 journalists who participated in the investigations, confirmed that several Pakistani names were on the Pandora Papers.

“Pakistani people whose name are on [Pandora Papers] number more than [those whose names were on] the Panama Paper,” Cheema said. “The names are kind of interesting, but you will have to wait for another 24 hours,” he said.

Cheema suggested that the ICIJ journalists had worked on the Pandora Papers for two years. “We waited for two years,” he said.

At least 444 Pakistani nationals have been named in the Panama Papers leak which led to the departure of the-then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

With 11.9 million documents, Pandora Papers are bigger than the Panama Papers, which were a leak of 11.5 million confidential documents.