When the Panama Papers were leaked a couple of years ago, they revealed a a bunch of information about how many public figures shuffle their money around to obfuscate their wealth – and potential ill-gotten gains. The Prime Minister of Pakistan was implicated, resulting in an investigation. And now, documents tendered by his daughter are alleged to be false – all because an investigator noticed what font the documents were typed in.
The Calibri font, which is now the default font in Windows, was created in around 2004 but wasn’t widely available until about 2007.
The Pakistani PM’s daughter submitted documents, saying they were from 2006 – before the font was widely available. And therein lies the scandal that is now known as #fontgate in Pakistan.
The creator of the Calibri font, speaking to the Dawn newspaper questions why official documents would use the, until then, obscure font asking “Why would anyone use a completely unknown font for an official document in 2006?”
How this will play out is anyone’s guess. The PM’s daughter and the PM both vigourously deny any wrong-doing and the investigators feel they have proof of corruption and, now, fraud.
The lesson – if you’re planning to falsify old documents – make sure you use the right font.
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