ISLAMABAD – The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has decided to probe 100 persons who have invested in real estate business in Dubai, reported The News.
According to report by Ashraf Malkham of The News, “[his] sources in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) revealed that a list of investors in Dubai real estate had been handed over to the FIA in 2014, but it did not take any action until 2015, when the agency’s anti-corruption circle Karachi registered cases and initiated inquiries against four individuals, out of 100, in 2015 over alleged illegal funds transfer. Then there was no word on the issue for long”.
In 2016, State Bank of Pakistan issued a policy, according to which a ban was proposed on residents of Pakistan to invest in the real estate and property abroad. The policy also proposed to make it mandatory for overseas Pakistani, who come back home permanently, to establish with documentary proofs that their properties abroad were financed through their earnings abroad.
This new policy was proposed after it was revealed that in two years, from 2014 to 2016, Pakistani’s invested more than $4bn in real estate abroad. The policy was drafted to close the door for capital flight. However, despite the proposal, in one year, from 2016 to 2017, the amount invested in real estate abroad -only in Dubai- went up to $8bn.
National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance sub-committee has recently, instructed National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe the huge investment of $8bn made by Pakistanis in real estate. The NAB will seek help from UAE authorities and ask for their support in this regard. The investigators will try to locate the investors.
According to Section 21 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 or Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010, NAB has the right to seek information on investors from the foreign authorities.
However, one thing that NAB and FIA isn’t focusing on is the open display of advertisements at Jinnah International Airport, by Dubai based real estate giants urging Pakistanis to invest in property abroad.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pakistan/an-open-invitation-to-commit-crime-foreign-real-estate-company-advertises-in-pakistan-making-a-mockery-of-local-laws/
The capital flight is a risk to the economy of Pakistan, thus, measures have been taken to close the doors for it. However, the permission granted to foreign real estate companies to advertise and encourage to invest in Dubai is a contradiction to the policies.
