Daily Times

Under the proposed bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the deadline for assets declaration scheme could not be extended, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said on Sunday.

Shahzad asked the people to take advantage of the amnesty scheme introduced by the current government and declare their assets by June 30. “The Assets Recovery Unit detected 10,000 to 12,000 properties of Pakistanis abroad. Data of 150,000 accounts has been collected from 26 countries. Some cases are with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and others with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB),” he said in a statement.

He asked the unlawful owners of foreign assets to regularise their assets by June 30, failing which strict action would be taken, as the government had all record available in that regard. A person could be convicted to seven years, besides confiscation of assets, for having unlawful assets abroad, he warned.

Commenting on the return of Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, he said Shehbaz should have questioned his son Salman and son-in-law for manifold increase in their wealth and transactions of millions of rupees in their bank accounts through telegraphic transfers (TTs). He said it would have been better if Shehbaz Sharif had returned along with his son and son-in-law.

Shehzad Akbar said the basic functioning of the Asset Recovery Unit was to coordinate with the state institutions, including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), FBR and NAB, to find out assets outside the country.