ISLAMABAD – PM Imran Khan led government may face a setback in bringingback looted money from Switzerland.
Switzerland has yet to ratify the revised convention on Avoidance of DoubleTaxation with Pakistan, which is delaying the exchange of informationbetween the two countries.
The exchange of information between Pakistan and Switzerland was due tostart from January 2018 under convention on Avoidance of Double Taxationbetween two countries. So far, the exchange of information has not beenstarted between the two countries, as Swiss government has yet to ratifythe agreement. Pakistan has completed internal procedures for ratificationof the agreement, said an official of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).He further said that government’s departments do not have exact amount,which is stashed in Swiss banks.
In 2014, the then finance minister Ishaq Dar had informed parliament inwriting that Pakistanis had stashed about $200 billion in Swiss banks.
Pakistan’s new government has announced to form a task force to scrutinizethe whole details and would recommend ways and means to repatriate stashedamount running into billions of dollars.
“First decision of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet is to form a taskforce to bring the laundered money back to Pakistan,” said finance ministerin a media talk the other day. He further said that task force has beengiven two weeks time to present the strategy to bring back the looted moneyto the country.
The revised treaty on the Avoidance of Double Taxation would not cover pasttransactions, which means that Pakistan could not do anything in bringing$200 billion what former Finance Minister claimed. “The scope of therevised treaty is limited to the transactions that would be carried outafter Swiss government ratifies the agreement,” he added.