National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance has deferred the approval of the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act 2016 on the request of Asad Umar and Jehangir Khan Tareen, MNAs from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (IPTI) to hold a special meeting on the said issue and Panama leaks. Chairman of the finance committee Qaisar Sheikh informed the committee here on Wednesday that the committee has convened a number of meetings on the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act 2016.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has also given a detailed briefing on the said Bill.
The bill should be passed by the committee. Responding to this, MNA Asad Umar said that the Bill should not be passed in haste. "We have to plug in loopholes in existing systems where people are maintaining offshore accounts aboard without disclosing information in Pakistan. If there are issues of Benami transactions and offshore companies aboard, there are certainly some weaknesses in the existing laws which need to be checked.
Jehangir Khan Tareen informed the committee that a special meeting should be convened on the Panama leaks. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) should be invited in the meeting to know about the shortcomings in the law.