LONDON – Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability (SAPM),Mirza Shahzad Akbar called on the British Home Secretary Sajid Javid hereon Thursday and discussed issues of mutual interest and steps to curb moneylaundering as well as recovery of assets acquired through illegal means.
A statement of Pakistan High Commission issued here said that both sidesdiscussed issues of mutual interest, particularly those related to theprovision of mutual legal assistance, extraditionrequests, prisoner transfer agreement and steps to curb money laundering aswell as recovery of assets acquired through illegal means.
They also discussed matters pertaining to assistance and support ontechnical matters, analytical advice and skills capacity building.Shahzad Akbar also held meetings with other representatives of the BritishGovernment, during which he met Debbie Price, the Deputy Chief CrownProsecutor of the International Justice & Organized Crime Division andPhilomena Creffield, Head of the UK Central Authority.
The two sides agreed on working in close cooperation at the operationallevel, having enhanced collaboration in the area of information sharing andreviewed progress on specific cases for extradition requests made to theBritish Government.
The SAPM also called on the British Prime Minister’s Anti CorruptionChampion and Member of Parliament John Penrose at Portcullis House anddiscussed strategies for making joint efforts in curbing the menace ofcorruption and plugging existing loopholes at home and abroad.
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Later on, Shahzad Akbar visited the Foreign and Commonwealth Office wherehe was received by the UK Special Representative on Afghanistan andPakistan Gareth Bayley. Both sides discussed a wide range of bilateralissues and expressed their commitment to work closely together.
Bayley expressed the British Government’s firm commitment to supportPakistan in its resolve towards fighting corruption and carrying out theaccountability process for justice to ensure transparency. – APP
