Panama minister says he sat beside finance sec. not Ishaq Dar

ISLAMABAD: Panama’s Deputy Economic Minister Ivan Zarak issued a clarification on Sunday saying he met with Pakistan’s Federal Secretary of Finance Waqar Masood in Washington DC and not Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

“Just to clarify, at the Global Connect Initiative Meeting I sat beside Waqar Masood, Federal Secretary of Finance and not Mr Dar, Finance Minister,” said Zarak in a tweet.

Just to clarify, at the Global Connect Initiative Meeting I sat beside Waqar Masood, Federal Sec of Finance and not Mr. Dar, Finance Mtr.

— Ivan Zarak (@ivanzarak) April 17, 2016

Earlier, Ivan Zarak had reportedly claimed that he met Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in Washington.

Ivan Zarak was asked by a journalist who visited him in relation to the Panama papers’ controversy to which he claimed that Pakistan’s finance minister had held a meeting with him.

What Dar and Zarak talked about was not revealed by the Panamanian minister.

Manwhile, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance while referring to media reports on Saturday said that the claim by Ivan Zarak during the CNN interview that he met Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in Washington is baseless, unfounded and extremely surprising.

The spokesman said that Ishaq Dar had cancelled his visit to Washington where he was scheduled to participate in the World Bank/International Monetary Fund spring meetings from 14-17 April, 2016. “How could Ivan Zarak meet the finance minister when the latter has not even left Pakistan in the last many weeks,” asked the spokesman. He said the finance minister is very much in Pakistan and performing his day to day duties, which are being covered by the media as well.

The spokesman said Pakistan’s Finance Ministry is represented in the World Bank/IMF spring meetings, currently in progress, by Federal Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood Khan due to the cancellation of the visit by Ishaq Dar. He said the matter is being taken up with CNN for its wrong reporting.