For this purpose, many of these individuals formed shell companies to avoid taxes or other legal formalities.
British citizens are at the top of the list followed by Nigerians, Indians and Russians.
ICIJ partners The Guardian, BBC and Finance Uncovered showed that nearly a quarter of the firms were owned by Britons. The secret files found 681 previously anonymous beneficial owners of 1,542 UK properties purchased through 716 offshore firms. The value of these properties is estimated to be more than $5.5 billion.
More than two-thirds of the properties are owned in London, with Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea being the most popular. Most properties are owned by firms incorporated in the British Virgin Islands with a handful in the Seychelles and Panama. This particular analysis focused on properties that people of various nationalities owned and the number of companies they hold for buying real estate.
Pakistanis stand at the fifth position with regards to companies they used for property purchases and ranked sixth in terms of properties they purchased.
Senior Punjab Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, Arif Masood Naqvi, the founder of the fallen equity firm, the family of Lt. Gen. (retd) Shafaatullah Shah, the daughter of Lt. Gen. (retd) Habibullah Khattak, Tariq Sayeed Saigol, Sikandar Mustafa Khan and Amer Ishaq Khan are among prominent Pakistanis who emerged in the Pandora Papers in connection with the companies used for buying properties in the UK.
Aleem Khan and his wife own Hexam Investment Overseas Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands for buying properties in London. Three properties appear in the company’s ownership record.
Arif Masood Naqvi, another financier of Imran Khan currently in a UK jail, has six properties through two offshore companies: Blondell Assets Limited and Velolia Star Limited.
Lt-General (r) Shafaatullah Shah’s company Talah Limited owns one property in London.
Lt-General (r) Habibulah Khattak’s daughter, Shahnaz, purchased two properties. One of them is in the name of Shady Tree Properties Limited and another in the name of Southwest Holdings Limited.
In the Pandora Papers document, she said she inherited her fortune from her father.
A Pakistani woman Saeeda Akhtar has the highest number of properties owned through Hilltop Supplies Limited. As many as 16 properties were found in the company’s name. Asif Hafeez, a drug smuggler, held three properties through Sarwani S.A.