Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has ordered an investigation into the leakage of the tax records of Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and his family members, calling it a violation of tax law.
The Finance Minister released a statement and said leaking tax information is a sheer violation as the law ensures the confidentiality of tax information. According to the Federal Board of Revenue laws, the details, documents, or declarations of taxpayers should be kept confidential.
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Moreover, Finance Minister Ishaq 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.
(1/3).Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has taken serious notice of the illegal and unwarranted leakage of tax information of the family members of General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinistryPak) November 21, 2022
To clarify, an investigative report is making the rounds on social media in Pakistan on the tax records of COAS Bajwa and his family. The report by FactFocus claimed that the current market value of the known assets and business 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. It claimed that the assets of Gen Bajwa’s wife, Ayesha Amjad, went from zero in 2016 to Rs2.2 billion (declared and known) in six years. The report stated the amount didn’t include residential plots, commercial plots and houses given by the army to her husband.
دلچسپ بات ہے کہ خبر دینے والی ویب سائٹ @FactFocusFF بند کر دی گئی ہے جبکہ وزارت خزانہ خبر کی تصدیق کرتے ہوئے انکوائری کروا رہی ہے ۔۔۔یاد رہے کہ متعلقہ خبر کی تا حال تردید نہیں آئی۔
— Asma Shirazi (@asmashirazi) November 21, 2022
The report also alleged that the total worth of the declared assets of Mahnoor Sabir (Gen Bajwa’s daughter-in-law ) jumped from zero in the last week of October 2018 to Rs1,271 million on Nov 2, 2018, while the assets of Mahnoor’s sister Hamna Naseer went from zero in 2016 to “billions” by 2017.
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Furthermore, the tax returns of Sabir Hameed — the army chief’s son’s father-in-law — were less than a million in 2013 but “in the coming years, he became a billionaire”, the website claimed.