Pakistan's investigative journalist detained in Gen Bajwa’s tax record leaks case

LAHORE – Federal Investigators have detained a journalist from provincial capital Lahore for leaking tax records of former Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and his family members.

Reports in local media claimed that investigative journalist Shahid Aslam, who worked for top media outlets including BBC, was arrested for allegedly providing tax record data to Ahman Norani, who shared the tax records and assets details in his exclusive story.

The journalists’ community, including the correspondent behind the exposé Noorani himself, denounced the arrest of Shahid Aslam by FIA and mentioned that the latter never shared any details about the tax returns of the former top general.

پیارے بھائی اسد طور،
شاہد اسلم زبردست تحقیقاتی صحافی ہیں جنہوں نے دی نیوز اور بی بی سی کیلیےشاندار خبریں کیں۔ مگر انکا سابق آرمی چیف قمر باجوہ کےاثاثوں کےحوالےسےمیری خبر سےکبھی بھی کسی بھی طور پر کوئی تعلق نہیں رہا۔ ن لیگ کےگھٹیاسیاستدان اپنی گھٹیاسیاست کررہےہیں، وجہ آپ جانتےہیں۔ https://t.co/R0WNwOJREl

— Ahmad Noorani (@Ahmad_Noorani) January 13, 2023

The recent development comes as FIA already held three officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in the tax record breach case.

Earlier, the country’s Finance chief Ishaq Dar directed to start probe after records from FBR were leaked, prompting a strong response from Pakistan Army.

Pakistan Army rejects misleading tax return propaganda against outgoing Army Chief Gen Bajwa

Army's media wing said misleading data regarding the assets of General Bajwa and his family were shared on social media, and the same assumption-based data was presented in an exaggerated manner on different platforms.

Noorani, in his report, revealed business ventures and claimed that the total worth of Bajwa's known assets runs more than Rs12 billion.