ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Accountability Shahzad Akbar has announced to visit the United Kingdom next week for holding talks with foreign authorities to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on sharing details of the Pakistanis, including former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who allegedly stashed their money in the UK.
Addressing a press conference, the former deputy prosecutor general of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said that a request regarding repatriation of Dar, who has been declared absconder in assets beyond means case, and others alleged money launderers.
Akbar, unveiling agenda of his upcoming meeting, said that he would highlight the significance of the extradition agreement between both countries during the talks.
“A major obstacle in inking the treaty with UK is lack of proper Mutual Legal Assistance laws in Pakistan,” the special assistant said, adding that the incumbent government was working on it to plug the loopholes.
He said that a law pertaining to the MLA has been finalised by the government to get evidence against Pakistan from foreign countries about financial scams.
He highlighted that the law will be tabled in a federal cabinet meeting soon, adding that it will be first enforced through ordinance and later presented before the parliament.
Strengthening the MLA laws would ultimately empower the NAB and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to effectively probe the cases as per international agreements, Akbar said.
Pakistan had already signed treaties of information sharing with 70 countries, he said, adding that these agreements would be renewed. Akbar said that Pakistan would also ink new accords with China and the United Arab Emirates about information sharing.
“A bilateral agreement with Swiss authorities is also being ratified to get details about the Pakistani who possess bank accounts in Switzerland,” he said.
Measures are being taken to bring Dar and other politicians, who are allegedly involved in money laundering, back to Pakistan.
He highlighted that the Supreme Court had already ordered the official departments concerned to take steps for the repatriation of the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
He also said that the assets recovery unit set up by the government would first go for civil proceedings against the Pakistanis allegedly involved in financial corruption in UK courts.
