ISLAMABAD: Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar told the Senate on Friday that data on about 6,000 account holders of Bank Islami was used in 23 minutes and $6 million was taken away through the international ATMs in a cyberattack on October 27 this year.
However, he clarified during the Question-hour in response to supplementary questions from senators Mushtaq Ahmad and Usman Kakar that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had made it clear that except for one, no evidence of banks’ data hacking was provided by any bank or law-enforcement agencies to it. He said there was no wide breach of bank accounts data.
The minister also noted that no amount was taken out from any account, as it was an issue between the commercial bank and insurance companies. He said the SBP had taken timely preventive measures in relation to the cyberattack.
In a written reply, Minister for Finance Asad Umar said the SBP had developed a roadmap for added strength of information security controls of Pakistan’s banking industry and instructed the banks to take necessary measures to identify/counter any cyber threat to their systems in coordination with all the relevant stakeholders, including payment schemes, vendors, etc, vide Payment System Department Circular issued on November 28, 2018.
Hammad Azhar brushed aside concerns expressed by senators Kakar and Mushtaq that more banks had come under attack.
Answering another question by Senator Mushtaq Ahmad, the state minister said it was the-then finance minister Ishaq Dar, who had told the National Assembly that $200 billion belonging to Pakistanis, were stashed in the Swiss banks and then an inadequate treaty was signed with the Swiss authorities, which this government had renegotiated with them comprehensively. He said information from the Swiss banks about Pakistanis, who had deposited their wealth there would start pouring in from January under the revised treaty.
The minister explained that the FBR had renegotiated the Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement with Switzerland, which contained an article on exchange of information on request for tax purposes. “This article has been renegotiated and updated on the basis of the latest OECD/UN Models that extends its scope beyond the information available with the tax administration in normal course of business and includes information available with banks and other persons in fiduciary capacity. The mechanism for exchange of information under the revised ADTA is effective from January 01, 2019,” he noted.
“Only then the government would be able to come up with a figure about how much wealth had been kept there and how much of that was declared and otherwise,” he said.
So far, he explained data had been received from 29 countries on Pakistanis’ 150,000 accounts and the amount was about $10-11 billion. He said it was being seen how much of it was legal. In a written reply, Asad Umar said all territories where Pakistani citizens might have stashed their funds were in the FBR focus and the government/FBR was taking all possible measures to obtain information about the Pakistani nationals’ assets in other countries, including the money kept in Swiss banks, for the application of tax laws.
To a question by Senator Rana Mahmoodul Hassan, the finance minister said in a written reply that the budget deficit in June 2008 stood at Rs777 billion, Rs1,834 billion in June 2013 and Rs2,260 billion in June 2018.
Likewise, the current account deficit stood at $13.87 billion in 2008, $2.50 billion in 2013 and $18.90 billion in 2018 and foreign remittances were recorded at $6.45 billion in 2008, $13.92 billion in 2013 and $19.62 billion in 2018.
He informed the House that no tax exemption, concession or rebate was being granted on the basis of nationality of an individual i.e. no specific tax concession or benefit had been conferred generally upon the Chinese businesses. However, exemptions were specifically meant for the projects that were part of CPEC and included in the Inter-Government Framework Agreement between Pakistan and China.
In response to a question asked by Senator Ch. Tanvir Khan, minister for statistics informed the House that as per the Labour Force Survey conducted in 2015, there were a total of 3.62 million unemployed persons and of these, 0.51 million were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2.32 million in Punjab, 0.66 million in Sindh and 0.13 million in Balochistan. He added the latest survey 2017 was under compilation.
Replying to another query, Asad Umar explained that Pakistan was implementing the action plan consisting of 27 points to strengthen its AML/CFT regime of FATF. He added the outcomes related to various actions were to be achieved by January, May and September next year and there was no deadline of December 15, 2018 in this connection. He said the report of actions taken by the government up to December 2018 would be shared with the APG/FATF after approval of the National Executive Committee. The delegation, he noted, for participation in FATF’s Asia-Pacific Joint Group meeting was to be held on January 08-10 next month and was likely to comprise 11 officials, including finance secretary.
PTI Senator Muhammad Azam Swati called for changes in rules to allow some other senator (s) to ask supplementary questions, if the senator, who had filed the question, was not present in the House, as he noted several senators, who had submitted questions and written replies given and ministers were also around but they were not present in the House.
To this, presiding officer Senator Sitara Ayaz said the matter would be taken up during the next meeting of the House Business Advisory Committee.
After the Question-hour, former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani felt it improper to move a motion on behalf of PPP Senator Sherry Rehman that the Climate Change Caucus as appointed by the Senate chairman may be deemed to be a special committee for the purposes of finance and regulation under the Rules of Procedure of the Senate and the Members of the Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1974. “I am not sure it will be possible that a motion be moved for this purpose in the House. The Senate Secretariat may re-examine it, as it may not be possible to create a special committee this way,” he maintained.
