The Pakistani retired General named in the Pandora Papers Lt. Gen. (r) Shafaat Shah has alleged that the shocking leaks that feature about 700 Pakistanis, including high-ranking military officers, maybe a conspiracy by Indian intelligence agency RAW ‘to malign Pakistan Army officers’.
He was responding to the news about the inclusion of his name in Pandora Papers with regard to an apartment in London purchased through an offshore company.
In a Twitter thread, he said, “One of the journalists involved with investigations, [Malia] Pulitzer, has recently stayed in India for 2 years and it is a typical RAW practice to malign Pakistan Army officers with criminals.”
He further said that he bought the said flat with the proceeds from the sale of a plot in Lahore.
Shah insisted that purchasing properties in the UK through an offshore company is allowed by the country’s law. He added that he doesn’t have any other business or source of income.
He went on to claim that the plot’s price was ‘less than half of what is quoted’. The retired general also said that he had reported this purchase to the army authorities and that it was reflected in his tax returns.
Further, he claimed to have no connection with Akbar Asif, who sold the London property.
ICIJ said that Gen Shafaat Ullah Shah’s wife got a $1.2 million apartment in London through a secret offshore transaction in 2007. The property was said to have been transferred in her name by an offshore company owned by businessman Akbar Asif. Asif is the son of Indian film director K Asif.
