Pakistan Prime Minister Forced Out Thanks to Panama Papers
ASHER: Welcome back everybody. The Prime Minister of Pakistan has resigned after being disqualified from office by the country Supreme Court. The court investigated the Nawaz Sharif's family finances following information that came out in last year's Panama Papers leak. It's not the first time Sharif's term as Prime Minister has been cut short. CNN's Andrew Stevens explains.</s>ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Known as the lion of Punjab, Nawaz Sharif is one of Pakistan's richest people. He held several posts in the Pakistani government in the 1980s, before being elected Prime Minister in 1990. A few years into his term, then-President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved the government alleging mismanagement and corruption. But Pakistan's Supreme Court declared the president's move unconstitutional and the charges false. Sharif was reinstated but he and Khan both resigned two months later to resolve a political stalemate. Sharif was re-elected prime minister in 1997. But two years later in midst of a weakening economy, more accusations of corruption and a dispute with India, he was overthrown in a coup led by Pervez Musharraf. In the wake of his outing Sharif was charged with hijacking and terrorism and sentenced to life in prison. The charges stemmed from his attempt to prevent Musharraf's plane from landing in Pakistan when the aircraft was dangerously low on fuel. But he would serve only a few months behind bars. In a deal brokered by the Saudi Royal Family, Sharif was released from prison and spent the next seven years in exile in Saudi Arabia. The Supreme Court eventually reversed Sharif's conviction, permitting him to run for office once again. In 2007, he spoke to CNN about his vision to lead the country again.</s>NAWAZ SHARIF, FORMER PRIME MINISTER, PAKISTAN: We have to be clear that there has to be a rule of law in Pakistan. The constitution has to be respected. The judiciary has to be independent. The press has to be free. There is no compromising on these principles and these issues at all.</s>STEVENS: But Sharif had to wait some five years for his return to power. In 2013, he was elected prime minister for the third time. But after failing to complete a single one of his terms, Sharif is now disqualified from holding any other parliamentary position. And with no chance now to redeem himself politically, Sharif's legacy is likely to remain overshadowed by allegations of corruption. Andrew Stevens, CNN.</s>ASHER: So, Nawaz Sharif is one of the most powerful figures brought down because of the Panama Papers. Their impact has been felt all around the world in Iceland, you'll remember Prime Minister Gunnlaugsson stepped down amid protests over his links to an offshore company. And in Argentina, President Mauricio Macri came into office promising to fight corruption. In less than a year later he's facing investigation over his connections to a company in the Bahamas. A judge said no evidence of money-laundering was found. And in Panama itself, authorities raided Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the scandal. The founders were arrested in February and face charges of money-laundering. Jeffrey Robinson is the author of "Standing Next to History." He joins us live now. Just explain to us, I mean the global political fallout over the Panama Papers has been swift and vast. It's happened over the course of a year. But this, we knew about Nawaz Sharif's family last year. When the Panama Papers first came out. Why has it taken this long for this to happen?</s>JEFFREY ROBINSON, AUTHOR, "STANDING NEXT TO HISTORY": Because the military wasn't involved. And as soon as the military got annoyed, that's when he goes. Because they really control things.</s>ASHER: So, this is political?</s>ROBINSON: Sure, it is. It's also a distraction. The Panama leaks, you talk about to Brazil now and the car wash scandal, which is huge. All came from Mossack Fonseca. And some of the islands, like British Virgin Islands, where 40 percent of the companies they formed were there. And it's not just money laundering. It's tax evasion and tax avoidance and it's corruption and all sorts of things. You have to understand there was no moral reason whatsoever to have a politically exposed person with money hidden offshore. It's completely immoral. And David Cameron even said as much. He convened a meeting of the G7 or 8 or 9 -- whatever they were calling themselves that week -- to look at the offshore world. And he said morally reprehensible to have these accounts. And then it turned out his father had one and he was using it at which time he said, that's a private matter.</s>ASHER: It's interesting if you look at all of these countries, the fallout has really ranged. Iceland was swift you know, the prime minister -- resigned right away.</s>ROBINSON: That's because there are only 14 people who live in Iceland.</s>ASHER: You had almost 14 people essentially protesting in the street. They forced him to resign. David Cameron, his father came up and people in the U.K. pretty much shrugged it off. And now you have what's happening in Pakistan now it took almost a year. And as you mentioned, you think it's just purely political.</s>ROBINSON: It's political and a distraction. Because the real problem is not some guy in Pakistan who loses his job over money offshore. It's the money offshore. It's the political corruption. It's the corporate corruption. It's the money laundering, drug trafficking. And it's the fact that Mossack Fonseca, who I exposed -- I was the first one to expose them in 1999 in Britain -- those guys have promulgated all this stuff. And they helped the islands develop a system where they could get away with this stuff. Just recently I've been doing some stuff, rewriting and revising a book 25 years ago called "The Laundry Man." And in the new "Laundry Man" I contacted some people in the British Virgin Islands and they've just paid for a huge PR campaign in the form of a booklet or a report, an official- looking report. That says we are not a tax haven. Now it's crazy to try to prove a negative. They're insane for putting their money in that. But they are a tax haven. Because they allow certain things to go on and they do not publish a list of beneficial owners and that's a key to the whole thing.</s>ASHER: So, Jeffrey, some good must have, has come out of this in that there has been a greater push for transparency. What has changed, since the Panama Papers first came out last year?</s>ROBINSON: The words "beneficial owner." Those are the two most important words. Now people like the OECD and all sorts of nongovernmental organizations, the European Union included, are pushing for all of these jurisdictions, to release publicly the beneficial owner of the phony shell companies. Now BVI says we demand that they tell us who the beneficial owner is. But we're not going to publish it just yet. Well, no, that's the whole point. Now you know, if you and I want to open a funny company in the Bahamas or the Caymans or some someplace, to evade tax, that's illegal. If we want to do it to avoid taxes, our government permits that. It's perfectly legal. If you have a problem with that, you got to go to congress or parliament or whoever who passes the tax laws and allows this kind of fooling around. And you have to go to the islands and say the people who are really fooling around need to be exposed. And if you're serious about this, you must publish a list of beneficial owners. The reason they don't is because they're not serious about it.</s>ASHER: But there has overall been a greater push towards transparency.</s>ROBINSON: Hopefully it will last a long time.</s>ASHER: Jeffrey, thank you so much. Appreciate it.</s>ROBINSON: My pleasure, any time.</s>ASHER: British airways' parent company IAG announced a big rise in earnings Friday. We'll bring you an interview with the CEO, Willie Walsh and our Richard Quest after the break.