The government has pledged to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will use a new digital portal from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to declare the assets of high-ranking public officials (BPS 17-22), including both domestic and foreign holdings. The IMF’s staff report indicated that this action aims to enhance the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules 1964 and comply with the Right to Information Act of 2017.
To facilitate this, the government plans to amend the Civil Servants Act of 1973, ensuring that asset declarations of senior public officials, including those owned by their families, will be filed electronically and made publicly available. This process will incorporate strong data protection measures to safeguard personal information like ID numbers and bank details while providing resources for the Establishment Division to conduct risk-based verification.
Read more: FBR Extends Deadline for Tax Return Filing
Additionally, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), FBR, and Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) are assisting banks in accessing asset declarations of these officials to help fulfill their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations.
The FBR is set to launch a new digital portal by the end of September to streamline this process, and the government is working with provincial authorities to extend similar access regulations for high-level provincial officials. Regular assessments will be conducted to monitor the banks’ use of these declarations and address any challenges that arise.
