ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s federal cabinet has approved the draft of a financial agreement to be signed with the United Arab Emirates next month, Pakistani officials said on Wednesday, part of a renewed effort to counter money-laundering and terrorism financing.
Last June, the global watchdog Financial Action Task Force placed Pakistan on a grey-list of countries with inadequate money laundering and terror financing controls. The country now has until September to implement a ten-point action plan or face being downgraded to a blacklist, making it infinitely harder for its government to access international markets at a time when the economy is stumbling.
“An information exchange agreement is to be signed between Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit and the Financial Intelligence Unit of the UAE,” said Muneer Ahmad, the director of Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit, adding that the deal would help Pakistan seek information from UAE’s financial departments about money-laundering and other suspicious financial transactions from Pakistan.
“The cabinet has accorded approval to the agreement, but it will take some time before it is signed,” Ahmad said.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the agreement was expected to be signed next month and would “help us trace Pakistanis who have illegally transferred money to the UAE and invested in real estate there.” He said the agreement would also facilitate holding “joint investigations” of money laundering and terrorism financing cases.
According to the Dubai Land Department, Pakistanis are among the top ten investors in Dubai’s property sector. Much of the money, according to government officials, is remitted to the UAE through illegal means.
Shahid Assad, a former member of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) who has been part of investigations of offshore assets of Pakistanis, said the bilateral information exchange treaty with the UAE would help expedite the sharing of information to counter money-laundering.
“Pakistan has received information of over 100,000 citizens who have invested in different countries, including the UAE, through the platform of the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development],” Assad said.
In February, the FATF watchdog said Pakistan had made only “limited progress” on curbing money laundering and terrorism financing, failing to show a proper understanding of the risks posed by Islamic State, Al Qaeda and others.
Pakistan to sign illegal money transactions agreement with UAE in May
Pakistan to sign illegal money transactions agreement with UAE in May
- Agreement will allow joint investigations, facilitate Pakistan to seek information from UAE
- Pakistanis are among top ten investors in real estate sector, claims Dubai Land Department
Gunmen kill 3 Revolutionary Guards in Iranian province bordering Pakistan
- Iranian state media says attackers ambushed patrol in Sistan and Baluchistan province before fleeing
- Border region with Pakistan and Afghanistan has long seen militant and smuggling-related violence
TEHRAN: Gunmen killed three members of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan near the Pakistan border, state media reported.
The Guard members were ambushed while patrolling near the city of Lar in a mountainous area about 1,125 kilometers (700 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, the official IRNA news agency reported.
IRNA did not report whether any Guard members were injured in the attack.
The Revolutionary Guard is pursing the attackers it calls “terrorists,” but they remain at large. No group has taken responsibility for the attack, IRNA reported.
The province bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, one of the least developed in Iran, has been the site of occasional deadly clashes involving militant groups, armed drug smugglers and Iranian security forces.
In August, Iran’s security forces killed 13 militants in three separate operations in the province a week after the group killed five policemen who were on patrol.
