Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued notices to more than 400 people, including the sons and daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in the wake of mounting pressure from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and other opposition parties on the issue of Panama leaks.

Sources within the FBR told Daily Times that notices had been issued to more than 400 people linked to the Panama Papers. The accused investors have reportedly been directed to file their replies within 15 days, disclosing the sources of income from which they bought or invested in offshore companies.

The FBR authorities were under pressure for the past several months after various political parties started demanding action against the accused under the tax laws.

According to sources, the accused have also been asked whether they had declared their annual income earned from these offshore companies in the income tax returns.

According to rules, the FBR can launch an investigation against the investors/owners of offshore companies, but cannot open cases of tax filers and non-filers beyond six and five years, respectively. Moreover, the authorities also cannot probe tax accounts of persons who have mentioned offshore companies in their tax returns.

Sources said that those who have been issued notices include the children of the prime minister – Hassan, Hussain and Maryam Nawaz –PTI leader Jahangir Tareen, Anwar Saifullah, Saleem Saifullah, Hummayun Saifullah, Iqbal Saifullah, Javed Saifullah, Jahangir Saifullah and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s relatives, Samina Durrani, Ilyas Mehraj, Javed Pasha (a close friend of Asif Ali Zardari), Senator Rehman Malik, Waseem Gulzar (a relative of Chaudhry Shujaat) and Zain Sukhera (co-accused with former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s son in the Hajj scandal).