With more names emerging, govt might face difficulty in retrieving assets from UAE

Pakistan's intention to bring back the assets of Pakistani nationals stashed in UAE may hit a roadblock as legal experts believe that Pakistan lacks the legal mechanisms to achieve the task.

“Pakistan doesn’t have any legal treaty with the UAE to get the assets of its nationals repatriated,” Muhammad Habib Ullah Khan, a Supreme Court advocate and an expert on international law, quoted Arab News.

The legal expert was of the view that even if the Pakistani authorities are able to identify the assets bought by its nationals in the UAE, they cannot take any legal action in the host country (UAE), to bring them back.

Meanwhile, signing a treaty with UAE would also not solve the issue, as “the government will have to first establish in the local courts that these assets were bought with looted money…  [Whereas] our existing laws doesn’t support the exercise,” Khan added.

The government has already made their motive clear of bringing assets back to the country, as recently many names of Pakistanis have surfaced who own properties abroad, particularly in UAE. A latest report of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which was submitted in Supreme Court on Friday, revealed names of prominent political figures and government officials who own properties in UAE.

Others were of the view that the Pakistani authorities would have to prove to the UAE authorities that the properties were brought through ill-gotten money, because “the reason is that these Pakistanis didn’t commit any illegality there. They bought the properties after fulfilling all the legal requirements,” said Barrister Masroor Shah.

“Until and unless it stands proven in the courts and all avenues of appeals stand exhausted that these assets were bought through ill-gotten money, you can’t do anything,” he added.

The list includes Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khanum, alongside the names of the government’s spokesperson on economy and energy issues, Farrukh Saleem’s mother, Senator Taj Afridi and PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Faheem’s widow and others.

According to local media reports, the list was part of the annexure submitted to a three-judge SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, seized with a case relating to illegal transfer of money from Pakistan to foreign countries.