Probe identifies two for leak of Pakistan army chief's tax returns

New Delhi, November 22

Two officials involved in leak of Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s tax details have been identified, Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said in Islamabad on Tuesday.

He said the interim report related to the leak of Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s income tax records, adding that they have traced some people involved in the act.

“I have seen the interim report. I hope to receive the final report today,’’ Dar told a Pakistani TV channel and identified one from Lahore and another from Rawalpindi. They may have the authorisation to look at the income tax records and if “illegal work” is allowed or a blind eye is turned towards it then a person will not be fulfilling their duty, he said.

A day earlier, he had taken note of the “illegal and unwarranted” leakage of tax information of Gen Bajwa’s family members and had ordered an immediate investigation by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The probe order came a day after exiled Pakistani journalist Ahmad Noorani uploaded tax records on his portal to establish that within six years of Gen Bajwa taking over as army chief, the families of his wife and a friend became billionaires. The market value of assets accumulated by the Bajwa family is more than Rs 12.7 billion, he said.