ISLAMABAD: Director-General Anti Benami Initiative Dr. Bashir Ullah kicked off a far-reaching campaign against corruption veiled in shape of benami assets/properties. With the enactment of access to information, Whistleblower Protection and Vigilance Commission Ordinance 2019 and Benami Transaction Prohibition Act (BTPA), Director General of Anti Benami Initiative has started full-fledged campaign against people having Benami Assets/Properties.
Sources said the government is fully dedicated to close-in against corruption in the society. For this purpose, Benami Zones were established in three cities of Pakistan and were given jurisdiction all over Pakistan. Inquiry under the BTPA is not a simple tax investigation. For filing of a reference, the Benami Initiating Authority has to have solid evidences against the beneficial owner. Furthermore, the Initiating Authority has to establish links of the asset to the alleged Benamidar and beneficial owner. Therefore, in the initial time-frame since the birth of this directorate, a very few references were filed. However, as of today which is approximately 4 months since being operational, 15 references have been filed before the Adjudicating Authority which involves benami assets of more than Rs 10 billion in the form of land, properties and shares belonging to all spheres of life including real estate tycoons, businessman and politicians.
Sources further said apart from that a total of Rs 20 billion worth of benami assets are also under investigations and under various stages of processing than before filing of references. Additionally, assets worth Rs 17 billion have already been attached provisionally by the authority. Attachment of a benami asset means that they can no longer be disposed of by the benamidar. Currently the agency is probing into 212 benamidars with 148 beneficial owners. The law, with its recent amendment, is powerful enough to become a nightmare for those who park their wealth in the names of Benamidars.
Sources said currently, the Directorate of Anti Benami Initiative and its zones do not have ample capacity to take on the huge influx of Benami complaints and information from the whistleblowers. Across Pakistan, a total of 11 officers are working who are supported by 25 newly appointed inspectors. The current human resource capacity in this organization is like a drop in the bucket if compared to the decades-old-menace of Banami transactions in Pakistan. In order to make ABI a success story and to rationalize the drive against corruption, the PTI led government should adequately man this organization and provide it with the required administrative and logistic resources. If sufficient resources are put at the disposal of this organization then in future the Anti Benami Initiative can become a national asset for deterrence against corruption, just like National Accountability Bureau and Federal Investigation Agency.
