–Three-judge bench tells 13-member committee to inform it about steps taken regarding Pakistani citizens wealth in foreign banks
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has given a three-week deadline to the 13-member committee, constituted to trace and retrieve assets from abroad, for submitting a report regarding Pakistani citizens’ wealth in foreign banks.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar had taken a suo motu notice of foreign bank accounts held by Pakistani citizens on February 1. The three-member SC bench, that also comprises Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, had asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to inform the court what steps it had taken regarding the matter of offshore companies after the release of the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, which revealed details of wealth stored abroad by Pakistani citizens.
After the FBR had informed the SC on Feb 15, that there were no legal guidelines for retrieving money stored abroad, the CJP formed a committee to prepare the Terms of Reference (TORs) that can help the government recover money stored in foreign accounts through illegal means.
On Monday, the committee which comprises State Bank Governor Tariq Bajwa, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Tariq Pasha, Additional Attorney General Muhammad Waqar Rana, SC Advocate Ikramul Haq, Federal Finance Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan and eight others put forth the TORs which include conducting a diagnostic analysis of the current landscape related to outflow of foreign exchange from Pakistan resulting in accumulation of assets abroad.
The TORs also include examining existing legal regime and practices; bilateral treaties and multilateral conventions that be used to stem the unregulated outflow of foreign exchange from Pakistan, tracing of undeclared assets held abroad by Pakistani citizens and retrieve such assets especially ones generated with proceeds of crime.
It suggests a study of steps taken by other countries to trace and retrieve assets of their citizens in foreign countries
The TORs seek administrative actions and measures to achieve objectives outlined above in view of existing legislative regime.
It seeks to “identify gaps and limitations in existing legislative framework and suggest suitable amendments for establishment of a robust regime that is: a) transparent, unambiguous and does not create undue hardships for law-abiding citizens and b) adequate and effective to enable relevant government agencies and departments to step the unregulated outflow of foreign exchange from Pakistan in future and trace undeclared assets held abroad by Pakistani citizens.”
The committee guidelines also suggest forming a mechanism to incentivise Pakistani citizens to voluntarily declare their assets held abroad and bring them back to Pakistan or pay a suitable amount of taxes if they intend to keep such assets abroad so that they could contribute to the national exchequer.
