Islamabad
The financial experts on Sunday maintained that Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to be formed in line with the Panama case verdict is not likely to be able to get required information, if necessary, from international financial institutions regarding money trail related to purchase or sale of London flats and Gulf Steel Mills during its investigation in limited 60-day timeframe.
Talking to The News, former Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr. Salman Shah said the JIT can approach the banks and other financial institutions to get information related to the London flats, the Gulf Steel Mills and its associated money trail but these institutions are not bound by any agreement to provide such information in short time period.
"The banks and financial institutions may provide the relevant information in short time but these are not bound by law because there is no such agreement that can force them to do so within a specific timeframe," he said.
He said the World Bank and the United Nations have taken various initiatives to help resolve the issues related to money laundering and tax evasion and number of treaties have also been signed by the member countries but it is difficult for any member country to acquire specific information from any financial institution in shortest possible time.
Dr. Salman Shah said the Supreme Court in its verdict raised 13 questions specifically related to London flats and Gulf Steels Mills and if any money trail is provided then the relevant banks can only provide the specific data about it.
He said the World Bank's Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) is an initiative to work with the developing countries and financial centres to prevent the laundering of the proceeds of corruption and to facilitate more systematic and timely return of stolen assets but it would also not be beneficial to JIT if it wants to get access to specific financial data.
Prominent economist Dr. Ashfaq Hasan said the banks and financial institutions work under various Secrecy Acts and they are often not willing to share data of their account holders to maintain their credibility among them.
"If JIT thinks it advisable to approach foreign banks to get specific information about the transactions related to the purchase of the London flats or any other issue I don't think that these would share such information because they have legal protection of the Secrecy Acts," he said.
He said if the government of Pakistan extends its support to the JIT in approaching the foreign banks and financial institutions then it would also be not an easy task because there is no available agreement to serve this purpose.
