Panamagate: Pak PM survives, probe in India going nowhere

It may sound odd. But it looks like corruption cases move faster in Pakistan, when compared to India – at least when it comes to the Panama Papers. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday narrowly survived from being disqualified after a 3-2 split decision by that country’s apex court.

The allegation against Sharif was on money laundering to purchase assets in London during the 1990s, when he twice served as Prime Minister. The Panama Papers leak last year reportedly showed that these assets were managed through offshore companies owned by Sharif's children.

Sharif survived as majority of three judges supported the setting up of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to further probe the allegations while two other judges wanted to disqualify the PM. The JIT would have to be formed within a week to probe the allegations of money laundering against Sharif’s family. Sharif and his two sons – Hasan and Hussain – have to appear before the JIT.

The case in the Supreme Court was based on several identical petitions by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan and others about alleged illegal assets of the PM's family in London. The case was launched on November 3 and the court held 35 hearings before concluding the proceedings on February 23. That is, the Pakistan apex court issued the judgement in 57 days after concluding the hearing.

Modi high on decibels, low in action

In contrast though, while the Narendra Modi government is high on decibels when it comes to corruption, it seems to be wanting when it comes to taking concrete action on the Panama papers expose by The Indian Express in April last year.

The ‘Panama papers’ consist of more than 11 million documents leaked from the secret files of Mossack Fonseca, a law firm headquartered in tax haven Panama, known for its production of offshore companies for its worldwide clientele of the well-heeled. Many Indians figure on the firm’s list of offshore companies, foundations and trusts, according to the IE expose.

The expose had named Vinod Adani – tycoon Gautam Adani’s elder brother; Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter-in-law, Aishwarya Rai; DLF owner KP Singh; promoters of Apollo Tyres and Indiabulls, Sameer Gehlaut; and, even gangster Iqbal Mirchi in a list consisting of more than 400 Indians.

However, nothing much seems to have happened so far. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court asked the government whether a Special Investigation Team (SIT) should be constituted to probe the offshore accounts of Indians revealed in the Panama Papers leak, according to Firstpost.

A bench, headed by Justice Dipak Misra, asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) PS Narasimha to seek instruction on whether a separate SIT can be tasked to probe the Panama Papers leak, besides Multi-Agency Group (MAG) set up by the government to probe into the black money cases.

Interestingly, ASG Narasimha is quoted as saying that the investigation into the names leaked by the website was “not simple” and “multiple agencies” were probing and “trying to ascertain” the details.

The Supreme Court asked the ASG to file the seventh report of MAG within three days (by Friday) and took on record six reports filed in a sealed cover with regard to the investigation in the black money cases.

While the case drags on in India, the irony is not lost.

With PTI inputs