While expressing total dissatisfaction over the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), a parliamentary body on finance Friday decided that the issue of illegal transfer of funds to the UAE from Pakistan to buy properties should be referred to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for investigation.
A meeting of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance chaired by Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh adopted a report of the sub-committee constituted on the matter and unanimously decided to send the matter to the NAB.
While giving details of the sub-committee report, convener Dr Shezra Mansib Ali Khan stated that NAB, FIA, SECP and SBP had been invited by the sub-committee. She added that initially all the agencies have denied presence of any data of those who have been involved in illegal transfer of funds to the UAE for buying properties. Federal Investigation Agency stated that the UAE authorities are non-cooperative on the matter. However, the sub-committee proposed that level of contact should be elevated to the level of foreign minister or prime minister to get information from the UAE authorities.
In the next meeting of the sub-committee, the FIA confirmed that 100 people have been involved in illegal transfer of funds to the UAE and the list of those people was with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). Some committee members stated that FBR and other departments of the government have been hiding information from the committee deliberately.
Dr Khan further stated that State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) categorically had stated before the sub-committee that it has not given permission to anybody for investment in real estate of any country while National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was of the view that "we have certain laws to follow."
She said the sub-committee member Asad Umar suggested that matter should be referred to the NAB for investigation; however, after deliberation it was decided that first the matter should be referred to the main committee and then with the endorsement of the main committee, it should be sent to NAB for probe.
A journalist was also requested by the committee to give details how he acquired information of those Pakistanis who had bought properties in the UAE. The journalist said that he had obtained a soft copy of those who had purchased properties in the UAE from FBR. A cursory look on documents reveals that of the 33,737 people, around 5,000 are Pakistanis who have purchased properties in the UAE.
FBR spokesman Dr Muhammad Iqbal said, "We have got verified a list of 55 Pakistanis who had invested in real estate sector of the UAE and list was sent to the field officers."
Governor SBP Tariq Bajwa on the issue of promotions in the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) suggested to the committee that it should send its recommendations to the Board of the bank and if board considers it appropriate, it will implement the recommendations. The meeting was informed that SBP has inquired the matter on the directions of the committee and it has been found that a proper promotion policy was followed by the National ICT R&D Fund during the promotion process for employees except some minor flaws.
The committee unanimously decided that subject report prepared by the governor State Bank of Pakistan would be discussed in the upcoming meeting of the committee after the members examine it.
The committee discussed the property issues being faced by the real estate sector with regard to the anomalies highlighted by Pakistan Real Estate Investment Forum (PREIF) and took a briefing from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on insider trading. The committee expressed dissatisfaction on the SECP report and asked some hard-hitting questions whether any serious effort was made by the SECP to deal with the matter by taking action against brokers, etc.