Panama papers: Nawaz Sharif's kin among 450 people served tax notice

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's tax authority issued notices to at least 450 people, including PM Nawaz Sharif 's family members, whose names surfaced in the Panama Papers leak for owning offshore companies.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued notices on Saturday when Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf party organised a rally in Lahore to protest alleged corruption by Sharif and failure of state bodies to proceed against his family after Panama leaks.

Khan warned the FBR and National Accountability Bureau against failure to take against Sharif.

The FBR said in a state ment that its Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation had issued the notices to obtain official versions of the people under media scrutiny . “The exercise will help to verify the authenticity of the reports that have been surfacing in the media for the past five months,“ according to FBR.

The Panama Papers surfaced in April following a massive leak of documents of Panama-based Mossack Fonseca company which reportedly deals with the offshore companies of world's rich individuals.

Sharif's two sons and a daughter were mentioned as having offshore companies which operated their properties abroad and the FBR have issued notices to them.

Sharif's supporters blame Khan for targeting Sharif for political gains even though his name is not mentioned in the Panama papers.