PESHAWAR, March 24: The government plans to enact a law to curb money laundering and transactions through illegal channels including Hawala, officials told Dawn.
Officials of the Federal Investigation Agency, which has been assigned the task of plugging the flow and reflow of money through non-banking channels and money laundering, said the federal government had intended to move a bill in parliament in the same connection.
After the enactment of law by parliament the FIA would get legal powers to check money transections through unofficial channels to and from the country, they said.
One official of the FIA told Dawn here that the government was making the proposed legislation after the US formulated Money Laundering Strategy 2002 to detect the flow of money through unidentified channels across the world allegedly used for terrorism related activities.
According to the money laundering strategy designed by the US government after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, all international competent authorities, perhaps Interpol, International Monetary Fund, World Customs Organizations etc had been delegated responsibility for gathering and disseminating information to their sister organizations about the latest development in money laundering and money laundering techniques.
Some 160 countries across the glob are sharing information with the international organizations to combat money laundering and Hawala across the world.
The FIA officials termed the new bill a step towards international efforts to monitor the flow of money through illegal channels. The US administration believed that all such channels were being used by terrorist groups across the world, they said.
Oversees Pakistanis, mostly from Gulf countries, send foreign exchange through Hawala (Hundi). Officials said that without the enactment of law the government could not ban Hawala and the FIA was unable to cooperate with Interpol or any other international agency in that regard.
The government authorized the FIA to block flow and reflow of money through Hawala under the Foreign Exchange Act, which officials believed was not enough. “Foreign Exchange Act does not concern money laundering or Hawala,” one official said.
A banking lawyer said the Nawaz Sharif government had enacted Protection of Economic Reforms Act, 1992, which provided legal protection to investors in the country and would not be liable to declare their source of income.
After nuclear test, when international community imposed sanctions on Pakistan the then government passed Foreign Exchange (Temporary Restriction) Act, 1998, and placed certain restrictions and froze foreign currency accounts.