ISLAMABAD: The tax department, while publishing the names of those individuals who made an investment in Panama, Paradise and offshore companies, has called for help from the people to track the 151 individuals.
In an attempt to probe and tax the investments of Pakistani citizens who own offshore companies and whose names were disclosed in the Panama Papers, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was facing problems in identifying and contacting certain persons due to the unavailability of their complete addresses and other information, according to an FBR statement issued on Friday.
The department had released the names for the first time since the matter first surfaced some time back. The names of the individuals were as follows: A Khan, A Siddiqui, Abbas Liyakat Ali Dattoo, Abdul Latif Soratia, Abdul Majid Latif Udhi, Abdul Rahman Chaudhry, Abdul Rehman Feroz Malik, Abdul Shakoor Azhar, Afsar Begum, Aftab A Khan, Ali Raza Altaf Hussain and many others.
In addition, the tax department had given the addresses of many individuals who could not be traced yet. The individuals included, Abdul Qayyum Khan, House No 1, Old Firing Range Drive, Bani Gala, Bara Kahu, Islamabad, Ajaz Ali, House No 100, Kamran Block, Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore, Allah Bakhsh Chaudhry, 33 Habibullah Road, off Davis Road, Lahore, Fatima Rizvi J/9 Ajmal Hospital, opposite Liaquat Garden, Murree Road, Rawalpindi, Hamidullah Street 18, Gulberg, Peshawar, Hassan Ahmed 864 N, Samanabad, Lahore, Hendrina Khan House No. 1, Old Firing Range Drive, Bani Gala, Bara Kahu, Islamabad, Hussain Zaman 231 Satellite Town, Gujranwala, Imran Ali Sher Ali Hussain Ali, Khayaban-e-Hafiz, Phase V DHA, Karachi, Javed Ahmed Khan 167 P Block, Model Town Extension, Lahore, Khaliq Uz Zaman Khan Lodhi House N0 6, Allahwal 1 STREET No 46, Islampura, Lahore, Majid Siddique Dawood House F/12, Dawood Cooperative Housing Society, Stadium Road, Karachi, Mansoor Ahmad Khan 1080, Model Town, Lahore, Manzur Begum House 290, Street 100, Sector I-8/4, Islamabad and others.
The tax department requested all the citizens of Pakistan to provide any information to FBR that could lead to the identification and tracking of these persons. The identity of the persons providing the information would be kept strictly confidential, the FBR notice mentioned.
The department did not give the details of complete investments made by these individuals. Earlier, it had emerged that dozens of Pakistanis had made large investments amounting to $8 billion in Dubai, however, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities were reluctant to provide any data to Pakistan in this connection.
When the Supreme Court (SC) took a suo moto action on the issue of investment by Pakistanis in foreign countries, the tax department had jumped into action and shared 151 names with the apex court.
Pakistan Teheek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of National Assembly (MNA) Asad Umer had also highlighted this matter in the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue and Economic Affairs.