ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Tuesday directed the Federal Board of Revenue chairman to approach nine tax havens through the ministry of foreign affairs to obtain information about the parties mentioned in the Panama and Bahamas leaks.

Besides Panama and Bahamas, the tax havens listed are British Virgin Islands, Seychelles, Niue, Samoa, Anguilla, Mauritius and Jersey.

He was chairing a meeting here to review the actions taken on the Panama and Bahamas leaks by the FBR, State Bank of Pakistan and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar was also present in the meeting, a finance ministry press release said.

Mr Dar emphasised that due process of law must be followed while seeking additional information from foreign jurisdictions.

The FBR chairman briefed the meeting about the notices issued to those whose names appeared in both leaks and the response thereon. The meeting was informed that there were total nine jurisdictions, 270 companies and 444 individuals involved in the Panama leaks. Similarly, 150 Pakistani individuals were found in Bahamas leaks. Of them, whereabouts of 110 were traced by the FBR, while in 40 cases addresses were being tracked, he added.

Notices under the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 were issued by the FBR in which ownership of companies or entities at Panama etc, and details about their financial and tax matters were sought. The FBR, he said, had received responses in 133 cases.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2016