ISLAMABAD: Following the arrest of a Pakistani couple in the UK for alleged money laundering, Mirza Shahzad Akbar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability, told Arab News on Wednesday that recovering illegally-acquired cash was the need of the hour and the government’s top priority.
The couple, not identified by the authorities as the matter is still under investigation, were initially detained but released a while later.
“This time, the political will is to bring back unlawful money [stashed away in foreign banks abroad] and the prime minister himself is monitoring the exercise,” Akbar, who also heads the Assets Recovery Unit (ASR), said.
Earlier this month, Pakistan’s federal cabinet formed the ASR “to trace assets of Pakistani nationals who have taken money outside the country or are retaining money unlawfully”.
The ASR, comprising officials from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), is expected to begin work from next week. It will also have the jurisdiction to engage with local and foreign experts, from the forensic and legal departments, to trace and recover illegal money.
After decrying the corrupt political elite for nearly 22 years of his life, Prime Minister Imran Khan finally rose to power -- riding high on the wave of a populist anti-corruption mantra – by securing an election win in July this year. Ever since then, his government has been grappling with the decades-old problem of illegally-acquired cash, also known as black money, stashed outside the country by rich and influential Pakistanis.
While authorities said they did not have information on the exact amount that needed to be retrieved, ex-finance minister Ishaq Dar had put the figure at $200 billion, in 2013. “It is the task of the law enforcement agencies to consolidate the data. We can’t merely talk on guesses,” Akbar said.
Analysts hailed the move as a step in the right direction, while suggesting that the ASR should work independently, without any political interference.
“Asset Recovery Unit is a good step in strengthening accountability systems if such a unit can improve coordination [between NAB and other bodies],” Dr Vaqar Ahmed, joint executive director at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, said.
He added that the unit should be allocated powers to undertake forensic and risk-based financial investigations. “It should also help other government arms fulfill the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force,” he said.
In a separate development on Monday, Pakistan and the United Kingdom launched a new initiative to check money laundering.
The move follows a visit by British Home Secretary Sajid Javid to Islamabad where he held a meeting with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
The two officials discussed “various areas of regional and bilateral cooperation, particularly regional security, counter-terrorism, migration, human-trafficking, money-laundering and asset recovery,” a statement released by Pakistan’s Foreign Office said.
