This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed "Money laundering and predicate offences" carried by the newspaper on Saturday. The writer, Zafar Azeem, has thrown ample light on the subject with a view to perhaps enabling all those who want to have better understanding of the subject which has acquired immense importance ever since the revelations made in the Panama Papers. The writer has raised numerous important points in his write-up; one of which, for example, tells us that "the International Monetary Fund has noted one of the dire consequences of asset laundering at the macroeconomic level, the inexplicable change in the demand for money, which makes banking more risky, contaminating financial transactions and increasing the volatility of capital flows and changes in interest rates, owing to unanticipated transfers of capital between countries."
That the IMF can help investigating agencies probing the offshore assets of individuals or companies in various countries come across some solid or incriminating evidence is therefore now a strong possibility.