The committee set up for tracing and retrieving Pakistani citizens' undisclosed assets and money stashed in banks abroad has recommended that appropriate law enforcement agencies (LEAs) be designated for the purpose.
The Supreme Court in March 2018 had constituted a committee, headed by the Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and comprising secretary finance and chairman FBR to trace and bring back assets held abroad by Pakistani citizens. In view of the implications of the task, the committee co-opted members from National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior as well.
The committee on Saturday submitted its report in the Supreme Court. It said that FIA may be designated as focal authority for the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Translations (OECD Anti-Bribery Convention), 1999.
Necessary autonomy be granted to LEAs to initiate and respond to the request of mutual legal assistance (MLA) from their counterparts in other jurisdiction such as the US, the UK, Canada, the UAE, Malaysia and Thailand. The MLAs treaties should be signed with key countries where undisclosed foreign assets are suspected.
The focal person should be designated in each relevant agency and organization to coordinate and assist the efforts of LEAs to trace and retrieve undisclosed foreign assets. Feeding of foreign currency accounts from domestic sources be suitably regulate. Moreover, a legislative and regulatory framework for foreign exchange regime needs further strengthening, the report said.
It stated that the tracing and retrieving of foreign assets is a multifaceted issue and it involves a number of laws and regulations as well as the role of different agencies. However, the process is faced with a number of challenges that include; lack of robust interagency coordination, lack of legally binding MLA treaties with key jurisdiction such as the US, the UK, Canada, the UAE, Malaysia and Thailand, and lack of enabling domestic law on MLA; need to make the relevant domestic law compatible with international conventions, challenges in tracing of overseas assets, lack of autonomy for LEAs to initiate and respond to the MLA request of counterparties in other counties, and delay in the conviction process.
The committee said that effective coordination between the relevant agencies and organizations may be very helpful in pursuing a case where information about assets held abroad is available.
The committee said that the law enforcement agencies (NAB, FIA and FBR) made efforts to trace and retrieve undeclared and ill-gotten assets held abroad by Pakistan citizens. The NAB generated 433 MLA requests and recovered around US $ 22 million from foreign countries.
It said that FBR has double taxation avoidance treaties with 70 countries. The FBR traced and pursued 336 individuals mentioned in the Panama Leaks. The FIA initiated inquiries against 662 properties where information was available, while 51 fresh inquires were initiated against more than 600 individuals.
The recent amendments in the laws are expected to assist the authorities in tracing the outflow of foreign exchange.
The committee prayed to the apex court to direct that this committee will collectively pursue these cases in tracing and retrieving assets held abroad. The committee may be given a timeframe of 90 days to submit its report in this regard.