Unlawful assets worth $5.3b traced to 10 countries

$1.3b was directly transferred to other countries through money laundering

Shahzad Akbar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability, yesterday disclosed that the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) has so far traced unlawful assets worth $5.3 billion (Dh19.4 billion) from 10 countries.

Addressing a press conference along with Senator Faisal Javed Khan and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Media Affairs, Iftikhar Durrani, Akbar said it is the first time that any government has started an illegal assets recovery process to bring stolen money back to Pakistan’s economy.

The ARU initially probed into assets that are above $1 million. Assets below this amount will be checked in the next phase, Akbar said.

He said out of the $5.3 billion, $1.3 billion was directly transferred to other countries through money laundering.

Akbar said the unit has traced 5,000 fake accounts that are used to transfer huge amounts of money.

Akbar added that the recovery unit is facing some hurdles due to ‘Iqama’ and assets that under the names of drivers, gardeners, cooks etc.

He said Pakistan is the third largest real estate investor in Dubai and London, owning three per cent of properties there. He added that money laundering has left a devastating impact on Pakistan’s economy. He said the size of the whole economy is equal to the black economy.

He said misuse of Iqama has become a source of money laundering in the country.

Akbar explained there are two types of Iqamas — one that workers from Pakistan possess when they move abroad to earn money, large chunks of which they put into the Pakistani economy in the form of remittances; while the other type of Iqama is used by politicians and others for money laundering.