PARTLY FACETIOUS: The TPA reality

“TPA it is.”

“Excuse me?”

“TPA as in third party audit and need I add, Shaukat Tarin second time as finance minister has expanded the scope of TPA – remember the first time Raja Rental got caught in its mesh…”

“So from ruling party parliamentarians to tax evaders or avoiders?!”

“Right, though I reckon he needs to launch some TPA mechanism of the kind that got Raja Rental…”

“Well my friend there is no give in that respect today – Gilani sahib irrespective of giving a lavish dinner to Angelina Jolie when large parts of the country were literally under water and by mistake taking the necklace of the Turkish first lady home to Multan, a necklace she gave for sale with the proceeds to be used for those who lost homes due to the floods…”

“Yeah, but don’t forget it is that very Gilani who allowed TPA on rental power projects at the insistence of Shaukat Tarin so why wont The Khan?”

“The day Moonis Elahi, and I personally don’t have anything against his face, I reckon it’s pleasant enough – perhaps not as pleasant as Murad Saeed’s or…”

“Don’t be facetious, I am serious.”

“Moonis Elahi in The Khan cabinet shows the political constraints that our prime minister is working within.”

“Fair enough anyway Tarin sahib’s policy to go after the undocumented who are hiding in plain sight…”

“Hiding in plain sight?”

“It’s not as if they are not flaunting their wealth in terms of fancy houses, fancy cars, fancy…”

“OK, but I have another out of the box solution for Tarin sahib? Out of the box in terms of generating revenue for the treasury - want to guess?”

“No, because finance minister after finance minister has failed to widen the tax net and that is attributable to elite capture and…”

“Where do the Pakistani rich hide their wealth?”

“Out of the country preferably in offshore accounts though those are becoming kind of scarce as the world passes laws and…”

“Right and which is the most famous company with off shore accounts?”

“Mossack Fonseca.”

“Precisely, and I would urge Tarin sahib to set up a Mossack Fonseca in an island country which allows offshore accounts and market it to the Pakistani rich and he has experience as a banker to sell the product…”

“But the name Mossack Fonseca, I mean why not Gulloo Butt or Billo Rani or…”

“Then you may get people like The Khan to invest, those who can identify the source of their wealth, not like Maryam Nawaz who ridiculed the name The Khan chose for his account remember…”

“You are being facetious.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021