ISLAMABAD, April 12: A new organization with the mandate to investigate exclusively the banking sector crimes is on the anvil for which a draft law has been submitted to the government for approval.

To be named the National Financial Intelligence Centre (NFIC), the new intelligence set-up would have "the authority to share and receive information from other financial intelligence units around the world."

Official sources said the establishment of the financial intelligence unit has been incorporated in Section 14 of the proposed Anti-money Laundering Law. The draft law for creation of NFIC would be submitted to the Cabinet for approval shortly before its passed by the parliament.

The organization would be established before the end of the current year as Pakistan has already given international commitments in this regard. The NFIC will have a director general to be appointed directly by the President. The DG will exercise full authority in day-to-day matters.

However, NFIC would operate under the supervision of the Minister of Finance. Financial institutions throughout the country would be required to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) to the NFIC.

"Once the NFIC receives the report (SAR) from the banks and other financial institutions, it will collect information from the government as necessary to determine whether the SAR should be turned over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) or the Anti- Narcotics Force (ANF) for further investigation."

The FIA, NAB and ANF have been designated as investigating and prosecuting agencies which would act to check financial crimes based on the intelligence provided by the proposed NFIC.

The proposed law for establishment of the new financial spying organization makes it a "criminal offence punishable by a maximum of five years imprisonment for anyone working in NFIC or having access to its information to pass it on to anyone not authorized to receive it."

The US authorities have been pressing Pakistan hard since 9/11 to put in place mechanisms to check terror financing through the country's financial system. During 2000, the FBI Money Laundering Unit officials "participated in money laundering and financial training courses in Pakistan."

The training of the Pakistani officials was part of the State Department funded programme which emphasized the techniques that money launderers used to conceal or disguise the nature of illicit cash proceeds and provided law enforcement officials with the ability to trace the location, source, or ownership of the proceeds.