Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced Tuesday the formation of a commission to investigate allegations made in the so-called Panama Paper that linked his family to a series of offshore companies.

"I have decided to set up a high level judicial commission headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court. This commission will decide after its investigation that what is reality and how much weight these allegations count," Sharif said in a TV address broadcast nationwide.

The leak, comprising 11.5 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, exposes how some of the world's most powerful people have secreted their money offshore, and also implicated Sharif's sons Hasan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz.