The government has committed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will implement a new digital portal through the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for the asset declarations of high-level public officials, specifically those in Basic Pay Scale (BPS) 17-22. This initiative will include both domestic and foreign assets and aims to enhance transparency and accountability.
According to the IMF’s staff report, this move is intended to further operationalize the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules of 1964, in alignment with the Right to Information Act of 2017. The government plans to amend the Civil Servants Act of 1973 to ensure that these asset declarations, including those beneficially owned by the officials or their family members, are digitally filed and publicly accessible.
The system will incorporate safeguards to protect personal information, such as ID numbers, residential addresses, and bank account details. The Establishment Division will be equipped with a robust framework and resources to conduct risk-based verifications, with a structural benchmark set for completion by the end of February 2025.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), FBR, and Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) are supporting banks in accessing these asset declarations to help them meet Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations and improve the risk profiling of politically exposed persons. The SBP is working with banks to develop standard operating procedures for implementing FBR rules regarding access to asset declarations.
The FBR is set to launch the new digital portal by the end of September, which will facilitate timely receipt and response to requests for asset information. The government is also engaging with provincial authorities to issue regulations that will similarly grant banks access to the asset declarations of high-level provincial public officials in BPS 17-22.
The government will continue to monitor how banks utilize these asset declarations through periodic assessments and will address any challenges identified in these evaluations, as noted in the IMF report.
