Pakistan premier only second leader to fall over Panama Papers

Nawaz Sharif who resigned as prime minister of Pakistan following a decision by the country’s Supreme Court to disqualify him from office over the Panama Papers, is only the second one to fall over the massive money laundering revelations.

Before him, Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson became the first major casualty of the revelations.

David Cameron, whose father Ian is named in the papers, lost his post of PM after he gambled over the Brexit vote.

The ruling against Sharif came after a probe into his family’s wealth following the 2015 Panama Papers dump linking Mr Sharif’s children to offshore companies.

Mr Sharif has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the case.

In Iceland, Gunnlaugsson had to step down after massive protests for his ouster. The opposition in Iceland too upped the ante and filed a motion of no-confidence motion against him.

The files allegedly showed his wife owned an offshore firm with big claims on the country’s collapsed banks. Gunnlaugsson centre-right coalition government was in power since 2013.

Even though the Icelandish Prime Minister resigned, he continued to deny any wrongdoings. He claimed his wife’s overseas assets were taxed in Iceland and that he had put the interest of the public before his own.

But his opponents accuse him of a conflict of interest. They claim he should have been open about the overseas assets and the company, especially since the government was involved in striking deals with claimants of the bankrupt banks.