At least it wasn’t Comic Sans.

Remember the Panama Papers scandal – at the time the crime of the century (and other hyperboles), but now largely forgotten by most of us?

That’s not the case in Pakistan, where the fallout from the Papers is still going on. At the centre of it all is Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, and the latest developments could spell the end of his embattled run in office.

We’ll start with the BBC:

Documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists last year revealed details about offshore companies connected to a number of high profile political figures – including Sharif [below]. He wasn’t actually named himself in the leaks – but a number of his children were linked to offshore firms that owned four luxury central London flats.

Opposition figures in Pakistan allege the money used to buy the flats was earned through corruption and a team of investigators including members of the country’s intelligence services and financial regulators have been looking into the allegations.

The children of corrupt leaders being corrupt themselves? Has a familiar ring to it.

On to the bit about the fonts:

One key line has been to establish who was the “beneficial owner” of the companies holding the central London flats – in other words, who they really belonged to.

Documents from the Panama Papers suggested the beneficial owner was the Prime Minister’s daughter Maryam Nawaz [below] – who is widely seen as her father’s political successor…

But the team investigating the case say they have spoken to a British forensic expert who says the document was typed in the Calibri font – despite the fact that Calibri wasn’t commercially available until 2007.

As a result they allege the document is “fake” or “falsified” and submitting it was a “criminal offence” by Maryam Nawaz.

If you’re going to forge documents, stick to Times New Roman. Lessons learned.

According to typography expert Thomas Phinney (it’s a real job), “while a beta version of Windows 2007 containing Calibri was technically publicly available from 2004, it was “highly unlikely” that it would be downloaded by ordinary computer users”.

The plot thickens when you look at what went on over at Calibri’s Wikipedia page, edited a number of times in the hours that followed the revelations.

The edit function has now been disabled:

So I’m getting a strong Zuma feel about this whole affair, but it also has much in common with our friends over in the U.S. Consider this from Gizmodo:

Sharif is in trouble because of his dumb kids and that those calling for his ouster are using a silly hashtag. Consider the fact that when the papers first leaked, Sharif called them fake news drummed up by people “targeting me and my family for their political aims.” Consider the fact that opposition leader Imran Khan said that this investigation shows Sharif has “lost all moral authority” and he should resign. Consider the fact that Sharif’s fellow leaders in government held a meeting and later “expressed complete confidence in the leadership of the prime minister.”

Three Pakistani Supreme Court judges will now begin deciding what action to take, based on the investigation’s report from next week.

No matter where you go, politics remains a dirty game.

[sources:bbc&gizmodo]