ISLAMABAD: A German newspaper’s tweets further aggravated problems for the Sharif family on Monday, as the daily highlighted the role of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter in Panamagate.
Süddeutsche Zeitung tweeted documents to ‘help’ Pakistanis form their own opinion on the role of Maryam Safdar in the scandal. “For those in #Pakistan who doubt the role of the prime ministers daughter Mariam [sic] Safdar in #panamapapers – some of the docs. Judge yourself.” the German daily tweeted, along with attachments purporting to show her involvement with Minerva Financial Services. Maryam Safdar is her legal name after marriage.
The tweet is accompanied by a document titled “Minerva Financial Services Limited Personal Information Form”, which contains the personal details of Maryam Safdar.
The “source of wealth” section on the form says “Family’s wealth and businesses which spreads [sic] over 60 years.”
A copy of the Premier’s daughter’s old passport also accompanied with the tweet. Süddeutsche Zeitung was the first news outlet to receive the 11.5 million secret files from Panamagate, which included the names of Pakistanis with offshore holdings.
During Panamagate hearings at the Supreme Court, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been trying to establish that Maryam Nawaz, and not her brother Hussain Nawaz as claimed by the party earlier, was the beneficial owner of Minerva Financial Services.
Minerva is the holding company for Nescoll Limited and Nielson Enterprises Limited, two offshore enterprises at the centre of the scandal engulfing the Prime Minister’s family.
Nescoll and Nielson are the owners of four flats in London’s upscale Park Lane neighbourhood, and the Prime Minister is under legal pressure to disclose the sources of funds used to purchase them.
It may be mentioned here that British broadcaster BBC Urdu had reported earlier that the properties owned by the Sharif family in London’s Park Lane neighbourhood were purchased in the 1990s and there had been no change of ownership since then.
According to official documents available with BBC Urdu, the four flats were purchased in the name of the Nielsen and Nescoll companies.
According to the documents, an official record of companies doing business in the United Kingdom revealed that when Hassan Nawaz established Flagship Investment Ltd in 2001, the address he provided at the time of registration for the company was that of his Park Lane apartment. After the Panama Papers were published, Hussain Nawaz had accepted the family’s ownership of Nielsen and Nescoll.
