ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Ishaq Dar, on Monday ordered an investigation into what he called the "illegal and unwarranted leakage" of tax information of the family members of Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Dar was referring to a report by Fact Focus, an independent investigative journalism website, which last week published wealth and tax details of members of General Bajwa’s immediate and extended family, saying they had become "billionaires over the last six months" by establishing international businesses, shifting capital abroad, and buying foreign properties.

The report, citing the family’s tax and wealth statements, said the current market value of known assets and businesses owned by the family within Pakistan and abroad during the last six years amounted to “more than Rs12.7 billion.”

"This is clearly violative of the complete confidentiality of tax information that the Law provides," the finance division said in a statement attributed to Dar, saying he had taken "serious notice" of the leak.

"The finance minister has directed the SAPM [special assistant to the prime minister] 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."

Fact Focus, which has previously published investigative reports on the “misappropriation of funds” by prominent Pakistani politicians and generals, released its recent report at a crucial time when General Bajwa, who has been the country’s army chief since 2016, is due to retire on November 29, following the final day of his second three-year term.

The army chief is arguably the most powerful man in the country. The military has for decades ruled Pakistan either through coups or as the invisible guiding hand in politics.

In 2020, a retired general who at the time chaired the government body overseeing billions of dollars of investment from China, faced scrutiny over his family's finances after an investigative report in Fact Focus claimed they had acquired a vast empire as he rose through the ranks. Gen Asim Bajwa, who is not related to the current army chief, denied the allegations.

The military defence spending appears each year as a single-line figure in the annual budget and is not open to public scrutiny like the budgets of other government departments.