ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan has given deadline of two weeks to a task force set up to recover unlawfully acquired foreign assets.
Task Force has to suggest a way forward for expeditious retrieval of the ill-gotten wealth.
The task force on Monday held its first meeting where different government departments apprised the body about the current status of pending investigations of suspected money laundering and financial fraud cases, said the officials who attended the meeting.
Special Assistant to PM on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar chaired the meeting, which was attended by officials from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Finance Ministry, the State Bank of Pakistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Auditor General of Pakistan, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
It was an introductory meeting where no major decision was made. The chairman directed all the departments to initiate the work for bringing back the untaxed and illegal assets. No date has been given for the next meeting.
The prime minister has declared retrieval of the hidden offshore assets as his topmost priority and promised to bring back the wealth stashed in overseas banks. The terms of reference (ToR) of the task force also suggest the urgency, as the PM has asked it to give recommendations within two weeks “for steps to be taken by the task force for expedient return of unlawfully acquired assets from abroad”.