Lt Gen (r) Shafaat Shah has responded to the news about inclusion of his name in Pandora Papers with regard to an apartment in London purchased through an offshore company, suggesting that it may be a conspiracy by Indian intelligence agency RAW ‘to malign Pakistan Army officers’.
“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 wrote on Twitter.
He further said that he bought the said flat with the proceeds from the sale of a plot in Lahore.
In a series of tweets, 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.
I had bought a flat in London by selling off my plot in Lahore with a title of off-shore. No other business.This is legal as per UK laws. It was reported to Army Authorities & reflected in tax returns. No connection with Akbar Asif. It’s price was less than half of what is quoted
— SHAFAAT SHAH (@INFANTRY28) October 3, 2021
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.
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