Officers involved in ex-Army Chief's data leak could not be produced before court

Officers involved in ex-Army Chief's data leak could not be produced before court

Pakistan

Officers involved in ex-Army Chief's data leak could not be produced before court

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The three accused who were found involved in the tax data leak of former army chief general retired Qamar Javed Bajwa could not be presented in the court after completion of their 2-day physical remand.

The accused were to be presented in the Islamabad’s District and Sessions Court by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). However after the completion of court hours today Duty Magistrate Abdul Majid Qazi had left the court.

The three accused could not be presented in the court within court timings. It is important to mention that three officials, Shahzad Niaz, Arshad Ali and Adeel Ashraf, of the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) have been under investigation in the case of tax data leak of former army chief general Bajwa.

Read also: Two FBR officers suspended

In November, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had suspended from service two officers of the Inland Revenue Service in connection with the leak of tax record details of outgoing army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and his family.

Sources told Dunya News that Deputy Commissioners Atif Nawaz and Zahoor Ahmad had been suspended from service after preliminary investigations.

According to the report, the data was leaked using the login and passwords of both officers who are currently under investigation for further revelations.

Previously, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar ordered an inquiry into the unwarranted leakage of tax information of the family members of outgoing army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Taking serious notice, he said this is clear violation of complete 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 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.