Breeding areas for terrorists Red faces over Pandora Papers
AN ANALYST at the European Foundation for South Asian Studies has expressed concern over religious schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan becoming breeding grounds for terrorists.
In her virtual speech at the 48th session of UN Human Rights Session, Anne Heckendorff said: “It is wellknown that the menace of terrorism in South Asia has largely grown out of religious schools, the so-called Madrassas. These schools that often times instil a distorted, ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam still flourish uninhibitedly in Pakistan and Afghanistan”.
She said: “The Taliban and the dreaded Haqqani network were born from such Madrassas in Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and other terrorist organisations continue operating such terror factories in Pakistan under the protection of the country’s powerful intelligence agency”. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, there are illegal “madrasas” which force the youth towards “jihad” or holy war. | ANI
WASHINGTON: The Czech prime minister, the king of Jordan and the chairman of India’s biggest conglomerate were among global figures denying wrongdoing yesterday, after the leak of what major news outlets called a secret trove of documents about offshore finance.
Lebanon’s last two prime ministers and the serving governor of the country’s Central Bank are wiring funds to offshore accounts at a time when the country is in the grip of a crippling economic crisis and the banking system is in disarray, the ICIJ said in the Pandora Papers exposé.
“In ... Lebanon, the Pandora Papers show top political and financial figures have embraced offshore havens. They include the current prime minister, Najib Mikati, his predecessor, Hassan Diab, and Riad Salameh, the governor of Lebanon’s central bank, under investigation in France for alleged money laundering”, the ICIJ said.
Mikati has a fortune of more than $2 billion (R30bn) and is one of the richest people in the country, according to the exposé. In 1982, together with his brother, he founded a satellite communications company, and later created the M1 Group, an investment company with assets in South Africa, Europe, and the US.
India said it would investigate cases linked to the data dump, known collectively as the “Pandora Papers”, while Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said officials named in the documents would be investigated – including himself.
The Kremlin said it had seen no evidence in the leak of hidden wealth among Russian President Vladimir Putin’s entourage, after the Washington Post said the documents showed Putin’s mistress had used offshore funds to buy a flat in Monaco.
The dump of more than 11.9 million records, came five years after the leak known as the “Panama Papers” exposed how money was hidden by the wealthy in ways that law enforcement agencies could not detect.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a Washington-based network of reporters and media organisations, said the files are linked to about 35 current and former national leaders, and more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories. It did not say how the files were obtained.
Using off-shore companies is not illegal or by itself evidence of wrongdoing, but the news consortium said such transactions could be used to hide wealth from tax collectors and other authorities.
Jordan’s King Abdullah, a close US ally, was reported to have used offshore accounts to spend more than $100 million on luxury homes in the UK and the US.
The royal palace said it was “no secret that His Majesty owns a number of apartments and residences in the US and UK. This is not unusual nor improper. The cost of these properties has been personally funded by His Majesty. No expenses have been funded by the state budget or treasury”.
Svetlana Krivonogikh, a Russian woman became the owner of a Monaco apartment bought through an offshore company incorporated on the Caribbean island of Tortola in
April 2003 just weeks after she gave birth to a girl. At the time, she was in a secret, years-long relationship with Putin, according to Russian investigative outlet Proekt. Krivonogikh and her daughter, now 18, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Kremlin said it had seen no evidence in the leak of hidden wealth among Putin’s inner circle.
Asked about Putin’s alleged relationship with Krivonogikh in November, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he had never heard of her.
Days ahead of the Czech Republic’s October 8-9 parliamentary election, the documents reportedly tied prime minister Andrej Babis to a $22 million estate near Cannes, France.
Babis, who was a billionaire before he entered politics, denied wrongdoing. “The money left a Czech bank, was taxed, it was my money, and returned to a Czech bank,” Babis said.
Pakistan’s opposition called on Prime Minister Imran Khan to order cabinet ministers and aides named in the leak to resign and face investigation. | Reuters and Sputnik