PANAMA PAPERS: Pakistan’s prime minister does a John Dalli

Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, has flown to London and checked himself into a private hospital there.

He did so in the swirl of scandal surrounding his family’s holdings in offshore companies, as revealed in the Panama Papers, which have led to sustained calls for his resignation. Speculation is now rife that he plans not to return to Pakistan until the commotion dies down.

Documents in the Panama Papers have shown how his daughter and two of his sons control shell companies through which they acquired costly real estate in London.

Sharif’s departure from the country was sudden and the excuse given was that he needed a cardiac check-up (which is apparently only possible in London and not in Pakistan).