Paradise Papers: ICIJ names Pakistanis Shaukat Aziz and Ayaz Khan Niazi

Names of two Pakistanis, Shaukat Aziz and Ayaz Khan Niazi, have so far emerged in the new database of documents, Paradise Papers, released by International Consortium of Journalists Sunday night.

The Paradise Papers reveal data of over 25,000 companies spanning 180 countries, from 1950 to 2016.

Around 381 investigative journalists from 67 countries worked extensively to bring facts about the Paradise Papers before the people. Senior News reporter and ICIJ member Umar Cheema was also part of the team which unearthed the Paradise Papers.

The leak, which includes 13.4 million documents, comprises a major part of documents leaked from company 'Appleby'. The documents were obtained from two companies in Singapore and Bermuda by a German newspaper and shared with the ICIJ.

Shaukat Aziz 

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was an employee of Citibank before becoming a politician. He was one of the shareholders and directors of Bahamas-registered Cititrust Limited from 1997 to 1999, along with other executives of the bank.

In 1999 Aziz was appointed finance minister and created the Antarctic Trust. Antarctic Trust set up by him whose beneficiaries include Aziz’s wife, their children and granddaughter.

Aziz had set up the trust in Delaware (USA) before becoming finance minister. Interestingly, the trust was neither declared during his stint as finance minister nor as prime minister.

Speaking through his attorney in New York, Shaukat Aziz said that he didn’t have to declare the trust in Pakistan as he was a settlor.

When asked if his wife or children declared the trust, he responded that they didn’t have to declare because they were beneficiaries, not the beneficial owners.

Aziz served as prime minister from August 28, 2004, to November 15, 2007 and was appointed as finance minister in 1999.

Aziz settled abroad after his tenure came to an end in 2007.

Moreover, former National Insurance Corporation Limited chairperson Ayaz Khan Niazi has also been identified in the records in connection with four offshore holdings in British Virgin Islands.

One of them was a trust, Andalusian Discretionary Trust, while the other three were set up as companies: Andalusian Establishment Limited, Andalusian Enterprises Limited and Andalusian Holdings Limited.

All the three companies were set up in 2010 when Niazi was the chairperson of National Insurance Corporation Limited.

In the record, however, Niazi’s two brothers, Hussain Khan Niazi and Muhammad Ali Khan Niazi, were shown as the beneficial owners, whereas Ayaz along with his father Abdul Razaq Khan and mother Fauzia Razzaq acted as directors