ISLAMABAD: While money laundering and terrorist financing are already crimes programmed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the National Responsibility Office (NAB) has established a cell at its headquarters to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
The cell has the task of maintaining coordination with the secretariat of the National Financial Action Task Force and other stakeholders, in addition to monitoring the analysis to help strengthen ongoing efforts to eradicate money laundering and combat terrorist financing, he says An official press release.
The cell is headed by NAB Director General of Operations, Zahir Shah, while Monitoring Director Zafar Iqbal, Additional Director Mufti Abdul Haq, banking experts Jahanzab Fareed, Sohail Ahmed and senior legal consultant (prosecution) Nasir Mehmood Mughal are among its members.
The office lacks jurisdiction to investigate these crimes, FIA officials raise objections
However, the FIA does not appear to be happy with the new mandate of the national graft regulator. A senior agency official said it is a big step as there are already specialized departments in the FIA to investigate money laundering and terrorist financing.
The former FIA legal director, Mohammad Azam, who also served in the NAB, said the Anti-Money Laundering Law has empowered the FIA, the NAB, the FBR, the Anti-Narcotics Force, the Financial Management Unit and Pakistan Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the money. money laundering However, the terrorist financing investigation is the exclusive domain of the FIA, since it can only be investigated under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, which is a programmed crime of the FIA.
He said that since NAB operates under the National Responsibility Ordinance 1999, which does not cover terrorist financing, the office lacks jurisdiction to investigate it. When contacted, NAB spokesman Nawazish Ali Asim said the bureau is the United Nations focal organization in Pakistan that fights corruption and has established a cell against money laundering. He said the terrorist financing office cell will work with other stakeholders, including the FIA.
Posted on Dawn, October 18, 2019
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1511485/nab-forms-cell-to-combat-money-laundering-terror-financing