Daily Times

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar Wednesday said the agreement between Pakistan and Switzerland on sharing of bank accounts details was being implemented.

Speaking at a press conference, he said the agreement with Switzerland to gain information about foreign bank accounts of Pakistanis was a great achievement. He said the previous governments deliberately avoided signing a MoU with the Switzerland.

Pakistan would start getting information about bank accounts of its citizens from Switzerland within two weeks time, he added.

Shahzad Akbar said it was essential to understand the framework of treaty to make the exchange of information possible.

He said Switzerland was the country which kept information of bank accounts highly confidential, however, now they had agreed to share the data according to the provisions of the treaty.

Agreements for exchange of information about bank accounts with other countries would also be signed but it would take some time, he added.

He lamented that six years were wasted in ratification of the treaty, adding the government was also in contact with the German government for sharing of bank accounts information. Shahzad Akbar said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif spent Rs250 million on his 25 private visits abroad on government expense and the case was referred to National Accountability Bureau which would investigate the misuse of authority.

Published in Daily Times, December 6^th 2018.