For report on army chief Bajwa’s family wealth, Pakistan government’s action

Pakistan government launched a probe against a journalist who leaked tax records of army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s family members.

The report said that Qamar Javed Bajwa’s family accumulated disproportionate wealth in the past six years.

Pakistan’s finance minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar’s office said that he has taken note of the “illegal and unwarranted leakage of tax information”, considering it to be violative of the confidentiality of tax information that the law provides.

“In view of this serious lapse on the part of to-date unknown functionaries, the finance minister has directed the SAPM on Revenue Mr. Tariq Mehmood Pasha to personally lead an immediate investigation into the violation of tax law and breach of FBR data, affix responsibility and submit a report within twenty-four hours,” the statement read.

Writing for Fact Focus, Pakistani journalist Ahmad Noorani said that Qamar Javed Bajwa’s immediate and extended family members started a new business, became owners of farmhouses in prominent cities of Pakistan and bought foreign properties, making billions of dollars.

The report was supported by a lot of data that looks into the financial dealing of Qamar Javed 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,” the report said.