The federal government has met another IMF condition by proposing 13 anti-corruption amendments, including stringent monitoring and publicizing of civil servants’ assets, hiring expert lawyers for corruption cases, and relocating FIA officers from airport immigration duties.
“Anti-Corruption Task Force on Review of Institutional Framework of Anti-Corruption in Pakistan,” revealing that the highlighted directives align with IMF recommendations aimed at enhancing the functionality of Pakistan’s anti-corruption framework.
After conducting a comprehensive review of the existing anti-corruption framework and gathering input from executing agencies, practitioners, judges, and stakeholders from Civil Society, the task force unanimously recommended the following:
- FBR should issue draft rules regarding the declaration of assets of civil servants serving in Basic Pay Scale 17-22 and their spouses.
- Amend the Civil Servants Act, 1973 to allow for the publication of assets and liabilities of civil servants.
- Amend the Elections Act to mandate non-elected advisors and special assistants to the Prime Minister to submit their statement of assets and liabilities.
- Make necessary amendments in the NAB Ordinance and the FIA Act to define clear mandates, establish coordination mechanisms, and prepare a joint offense list.
- Provide training on jurisdictional boundaries to officers of NAB, FIA, and Provincial ACEs.
- Reassign the responsibility of immigration processing at airports from FIA to another force.
- Invest in technology, capacity building, and training of FIA, NAB, and provincial ACE investigators.
- Conduct awareness campaigns to promote integrity among officials and educate the public about their right to seek disclosure of public information under the Right to Information Act.
- Appoint lawyers based on specific expertise through open advertisement for quality prosecution, and appoint independent members of the legal fraternity in special courts.
- Empower Provincial Anti-Corruption Establishments to handle money laundering cases at the provincial level.
- Establish a central coordination forum for investigation assistance, intelligence sharing, and addressing jurisdictional issues.
- Ensure the appointment of Chief Internal Auditors within Ministries/Divisions as required by the Public Finance Management Act.
- Ensure strict compliance with the State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) Act, 2023, and ensure that Government entities adhere to section 36 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2019.
