ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar Tuesday said that the interim probe report into the leak of Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s income tax records had been received and the culprits involved had been traced.
Speaking in a talk show, Dar said the leak of income tax returns of the army chief’s family was “illegal” and he himself had seen the interim probe report.
Finance Minister said that he hoped to receive the final report soon and the government has found a few people behind the leak. He said that the matter would be taken to its logical conclusion.
Sharing further details, Dar said that one person involved in the leak belonged to Lahore and another from Rawalpindi.
However, the minister hastened to add that there is a possibility that some of the individuals involved may have the authorisation to look at the income tax records as there was a circle in Rawalpindi where assessments take place.
“These people are authorised to access the [data] for their assessment,” Dar said and addad that if “illegal work” is allowed or a blind eye is turned towards it then a person will not be fulfilling their duty.
“The law does not allow the release of army chief or anyone else’s income tax returns without a court order,” said the finance minister.
Separately, Special Assistance to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Revenue Tariq Pasha on Tuesday chaired an important session to probe the matter related to the leakage of tax details of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and his family members.
The key session was held at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) headquarters and the FBR Chairman Asim Ahmad also attended the session.
Tariq Pasha also summoned Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) and a member of the IT to the session. The PRAL chairman briefed the participants of the meeting regarding the leaking of COAS Bajwa and his family members’ tax details. Moreover, the FBR chairman and IT member also briefed Tariq Pasha regarding the issue.
It was learnt that a report will be presented to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar after an inquiry into the confidential data leak.
