Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday ordered a probe into the ‘illegal, unwarranted’ leak of Chief of Army Staff General (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s family tax records.
Dar said that an immediate investigation will be carried out into the issue and sought a report within 24 hours, reported Geo News. “This is clearly a violation of the complete confidentiality of tax information that the law provides,” a statement from the Finance Division read.
An immediate investigation into the violation of tax law and breach of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) data will be carried out, said the statement, reported Geo News.
In view of this serious lapse on the part of to-date unknown functionaries, Dar has directed the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha to personally lead the probe, affix responsibility, and submit a report within 24 hours, added the statement.
Notably, a damaging report has shed light on the sharp rise of wealth of close family members of the most powerful person in the country in a span of six years, less than two weeks before Bajwa’s tenure is about to end. Writing for Fact Focus, Pakistani journalist Ahmad Noorani has unearthed how Bajwa’s immediate and extended family members, in a matter of few years, started a new business, became owners of farmhouses in prominent Pakistani cities and bought foreign properties, making billions of dollars in the process. The investigative report by Fact Focus is supported by a lot of data that looks into the financial dealing of Bajwa’s family including his wife Ayesha Amjad, his daughter-in-law Mahnoor Sabir and other close family members. “Within six years, both families become billionaires, started an international business, purchased multiple foreign properties, started transferring capital abroad, become owners of commercial plazas, commercial plots, huge farmhouses in Islamabad and Karachi, an immense real estate portfolio in Lahore, and so on. The current market value of the – known – assets and businesses within Pakistan and outside accumulated by the Bajwa family during the last six years is more than Rs12.7 billion,” Noorani wrote. Based on tax returns and other financial statements, the Pakistani journalist noted how between 2013 and 2017, Bajwa revised the wealth statement for 2013 three times, after being appointed country’s army chief.