ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: Pakistan has demanded freezing, confiscation and return of all ill-gotten wealth at the earliest at a meeting of ad hoc committee of United Nations Convention Against Corruption being held in Vienna.

It also demanded that there should not be any sharing of ill-gotten wealth at the time of returning the same to the affected states, as it was not proper to charge for performing international obligations. Several states supported Pakistan’s stand.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) representative in Pakistan delegation, Ahmer Bilal Soofi, took forceful positions on behalf of developing states, a press release issued by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said on Saturday.

Pakistan representative also called for an effective provision of freezing of assets, while the process of return was pending.

The ad hoc committee of United Nations General Assembly for negotiation of an international convention against corruption, headed by Pakistan Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi, strongly supported repatriation provisions in the draft United Nations Convention on Corruption.

Pakistan effectively represented position of developing states, most of which rallied around Pakistan delegation for the support.

Pakistan delegates shared with ad hoc committee the extensive NAB experience of carrying out legal proceedings outside Pakistan in several states and the problems they confronted.

Pakistan delegation further proposed several important changes in the draft conventions and received support for the proposed changes from numerous states from Africa, Latin America, Asia, etc.

The meeting argued that a mechanism of mutual legal assistance be made smooth and less cumbersome and exchange of judicial record must be part of the mutual assistance.

One of the major achievements of the Pakistan delegation was that the meeting appreciated its proposal to enable states to cancel contracts that arise from acts of corruption.

In fact, initially it was Pakistan that tabled a draft of such an article, which gradually gained support. However, it was still being opposed by some developed states, the press release said.