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Govt Identified More Than 5,000 Fake Accounts: Shehzad Akbar

Islamabad (November 12, 2018): Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar on Monday said that the government has identified more than 5,000 fake accounts which were allegedly used for money laundering.

Holding a press conference along with Senator Faisal Javed and Adviser to PM Iftikhar Durrani, he shared the progress made by the assets recovering unit — a joint platform of officials from the State Bank of Pakistan, the Federal Board of Revenue and watchdogs to bring back illegal money stashed abroad.

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He said that Government has received details from 10 countries of money laundering worth Rs700 billion and references in this regard will be filed soon.

The adviser told the media that assets worth $5.3 billion were made in Dubai alone through alleged money laundering.

The amount translates into Rs700 billion,” he said, adding that further details of all Iqama holders were being collected with the help of Dubai authorities as well as the local mechanism.The accounts and foreign properties were found during the investigations into the ongoing cases. The details of each and every case will be shared with media when corruption references will be filed properly, Iftikhar Durrani added.

“$1.5bn properties bought in Dubai are a small estimated faction of the ill gotten money [laundered abroad],” said Akbar.

“Money laundered through these accounts exceeded $1,000 billion,” he said while adding that the accounts were created in the names of ice cream vendors and rickshaw drivers.

“Previous leaders issued iqamas to conceal the amount that was laundered out of the country,” the special assistant to the premier continued.

Akbar shared, “We are seeking details of all iqama holders from Dubai administration.“Those who have stashed money in Dubai and European banks will not be able to hide,” the premier’s special assistant further warned.

Stating that they have received details pertaining to money laundering from 10 countries, the premier’s special assistant said, “$5.3 billion were taken out of Pakistan. This amount translates to Rs700 billion and is a small fraction of the total amount laundered.”

“The matter of fake accounts is ongoing in the Supreme Court and the court has ordered that it should not be discussed on air,” he added.

Further, Akbar said, “A list of suspects will be released soon, however, it cannot be shared before a decision is taken regarding filing references.”Elaborating on the iqamas issued by previous leaders, Akbar said, “There are two kinds of iqama holders — one kind is labourers and those who work hard and the other is ministers whose details are hard to find.”

The premier’s special assistant on accountability added, “The hardest part is identifying the real suspects as those who hold iqamas hide their identities.”

“Some people have bought properties in the names of their drivers and gardeners. When we investigate, we find out that they are the employees of big people,” he said.

Akbar said, “These findings are from investigations over the last 70 days and focused on 10 countries. Money laundering has destroyed Pakistan.”

“We would have been an economically stable country had there been no money laundering,” he regretted.Also speaking to the media, Durrani said, “Properties worth $15 billion were bought in Dubai alone.”

“NAB, FBR, SECP and other institutions are working within their framework. We have not filed cases against anyone and if we do then we will inform first,” he added.

The premier’s special assistant on media further said, “No matter what anyone says, the process of accountability will continue. The asset recovery unit is also working and has not registered any cases as yet.”

Earlier on November 10, Federal Minister for Finance Asad Umer claimed to have traced 4000 illegal properties of Pakistanis in Dubai.In a meeting with industrialists at Overseas Chamber of Commerce in Karachi on Saturday, he said there are assets of four thousand Pakistanis in Dubai, while ninety seven thousand Pakistani also possess properties in other countries of the world as well.

The minister revealed that the authorities have also detected 95000 bank accounts of Pakistanis in 27 different countries.

Taking step to improve the economy of the country, he added.

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Govt Has Traced Properties of Pakistanis in Dubai: Asad