Ishaq Dar takes notice of ‘illegal, unwarranted’ leak of Gen Bajwa’s family’s tax records

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday took notice of the “illegal and unwarranted” leakage of tax information of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s family members.

An official statement from the Finance Division states, “This is clearly a violation of the complete confidentiality of tax information that the law provides.”

This statement comes a day after a report by investigative news website FactFocus, which cited alleged tax returns and wealth statements, claimed that the COAS’ family had amassed billions of rupees in the last six years.

“In view of this serious lapse on the part of to-date unknown functionaries, the finance minister has directed the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Revenue, Tariq Mehmood Pasha, to personally lead an immediate investigation into the violation of tax law[s] and breach of Federal Board of Revnue (FBR) data, affix responsibility and submit a report within 24 hours,” the handout said.

According to the FactFocus report, the current market value of the known assets and businesses of the army chief, both within and outside Pakistan, amounted to Rs12.7 billion.

The report also shared the alleged wealth statements of Gen Bajwa and his family from 2013 to 2021.

According to the publication, it was unable to obtain data about assets in the name of Gen Bajwa’s two sons.

FactFocus has claimed that after the publication of the story, the traffic on its site was “disrupted” and the website had been “banned”.