Anti-money laundering (amendement), two other bills passed by NA

The National Assembly on Monday passed three bills, The Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2020, The Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, and The Surveying and Mapping Bill, 2019, with majority vote.

The Lower House of the Parliament also passed a resolution amid opposition from the opposition members to extend, The Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance Commission Ordinance, 2019, for a further period of 120 days.

State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan tabled the three bills separately in the House for passage.

The House passed the bills with majority vote despite opposition from the opposition lawmakers.

According to The Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2020, section 4 regarding punishment for money laundering, the fine has been extended from one million to five million.

An amendment was also approved in section 7 which described "Every reporting entity shall keep and maintain all record related to suspicious transaction reports and CTRs filed by it for a period of at least '10 years' after reporting of transaction under sub-sections (1), (2) and (3).

An amendment to section 8 of the Act says, "Provided that the Court may grant further extension for a period up to 180 days."

According to objectives of the bill, the proposed amendments will reflect the government's firm resolve to strengthen its anti-money laundering (AML) regime.

These amendments are aimed at streamlining the existing AML law in line with international standards and suggest enhancing the punishment of offence of money laundering to make it more dissuasive and deterrent.

These amendments would also allow Financial Monitoring Unit to seek Egmont Group Membership (Group of Financial Intelligence Unit), which is the requirement under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations.

According to objects and reasons of "The Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020", the law would empower the State Bank of Pakistan to regulate flows of foreign exchange into and out of the country.

Furthermore, it has also been considered necessary to enhance the punishments provided in Section 23 of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), 1947, to create firmer deterrence against contravention of various provisions of the Act.

The purpose of the passage of "The Surveying and Mapping Bill, 2019", a National Mapping Organization is responsible to meet the survey and mapping of armed forces as well as other civil organizations/departments.

The government also introduced "the United Nations (Security Council) (Amendment) Bill, 2020" in the National Assembly.

State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan also presented a report of the Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs on "The Tax Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020". The Chairman Standing Committee on Interior, Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz, also presented report on "The Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020" in the House.

While opposing "The Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance Commission Ordinance, 2019", former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said that the government should present the ordinance in the form of bill for discussion in the House. He said that the government should adopt proper procedure for legislation.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Rana Tanveer Ahmed, said that the ordinance should be referred to a relevant standing committee for discussion.

Meanwhile, journalists staged a walkout from the press gallery of the National Assembly in protest on the murder of journalist, Aziz Memon. Aziz Memon, who worked for a local Sindhi channel and newspaper, was found murdered on Sunday in Naushahro Feroze.

The journalists urged the National Assembly speaker to constitute a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the incident.

The members of the National Assembly regretted the death of the journalist and asked for conducting a proper investigation into the incident.

Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari strongly condemned the murder of journalist, Aziz Memon and called for constituting an inquiry committee on the matter. She said that Aziz Memon had informed the authorities concerned a few days ago about threats to his life; however, no timely action was taken by the police to protect him.

A committee should be constituted to probe the murder of Aziz Memon so that those involved in the incident should be brought to justice.

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry also said that a committee of the House should be formed or agencies of the federal government should investigate the matter.

Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser said that he would constitute a committee after legal consultation and opinion from the Law Ministry.