NA panel seeks details of Rs2 trillion allegedly deposited in Swiss banks

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance has sought a detailed briefing from officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) regarding the amount of $200 billion (Rs2 trillion) allegedly deposited in Swiss banks. The committee meeting was held under the chair of Qaiser Ahmed Shaikh at the Parliament House on Wednesday.

During the meeting, the committee chairman directed the FBR officials to give a detailed briefing on the alleged $200 billion deposited by some Pakistani politicians and other persons in different Swiss banks. Action was taken on a written application of the committee member Daniyal Aziz.

The committee also reviewed the projects presented under the public sector development programme for the financial year 2016-17 by the Finance department.During the meeting, committee members, including Daniyal Aziz, Asad Umar and Dr Nafisa Shah, stated that all ministries have been directed to send their budget to the Finance Ministry because the finance committee reviews these projects. The budget provided later is completely different from the real cost of the project, they stated. On this, the finance secretary clarified that no projects are sent to the Finance Ministry for approval. He said that details of these projects are sent to the Ministry of Planning. During the meeting, the committee also approved four projects worth of Rs1.62 billion presented by the Finance Ministry.