Panel set up to probe Dubai investments fails to make any progress

Meeting invokes furious reaction from members, no headway made in investigation

ISLAMABAD: A special parliamentary panel that was set up to probe an investment of $8 billion in Dubai’s real estate by Pakistanis has died its natural death without making any headway after all vested interests joined hands to make sure that the information remained buried overseas.

Even the single most critical decision to involve the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to get information from Dubai was erased from official files by Committee’s Secretary Amir Omar Malik. The recording of the committee proceedings, legally mandatory to be maintained, has most likely been destroyed as well.

A NAB officer, who was hopeful of getting this information from the UAE, was apparently stopped from attending the special panel meeting that was held on Wednesday -also its last session before the committee’s one-month period expires on Thursday (today).

A junior level NAB official attended the meeting and said that the head of NAB’s international cooperation wing, Faheem Qureshi, was stuck in traffic and could not reach the office.

When the committee’s member Asad Umar pressed that he would wait for Qureshi, the junior officer came up with another excuse that the officer was in Austria. Despite making a misstatement before a parliamentary panel, the committee chairperson, Shezra Mansab Khan, did not take the NAB official to task.



To make sure that things do not slip out of hands, PML-N MNA Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh attended the special panel meeting on Wednesday despite not having the mandate. Qaiser Sheikh is the chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue.

The sub-committee of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue had been set up to look how the outflow of $8 billion occurred; whether the money can be brought back and how can future overseas investments by individuals be stopped.

In the first meeting held late last month, the committee had decided to write to the NAB chairman, seeking help from the anti-corruption watchdog in convincing authorities in the UAE to share the information.

The committee had taken the decision on the advice of the NAB representative who had said that the bureau can seek information from foreign jurisdictions either under section 21 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) of 1999 or invoke the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2010. The committee had left the decision of invoking either NAO or AML Act on NAB authorities.

But as the proceedings started on Wednesday, Asad Umar revealed that the Secretary Committee did not make the decision to involve NAB part of the official minutes. Secretary Committee Amir Omar insisted that the chairperson had not endorsed the decision.

“Pakistan’s parliament, all departments and the executive are unanimous on one thing and that is to protect the big criminals,” said Asad Umar who went on to say that “it was farce democracy” that was protecting the corrupt people.

PML-N’s Shezra Mansab Ali, who is heading the three-member panel with MNAs Isphanyar Bhandara and Asad Umar as its members, confirmed that she did not endorse the decision.

When Asad Umar asked the committee secretary to play recording of the last meeting’s proceeding, the secretary claimed that no recording took place on that day due to malfunctioning of the system.



It was legally binding on the official to ensure that the proceedings were duly recorded, protested Asad Umar.

Almost every influential person, whether a politician or bureaucrat has some kind of interest in Dubai’s real estate, said a visibly perturbed Asad Umar. Among those who own properties abroad is Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

The Federal Investigation Agency told the special panel that under the Foreign Assets Declaration Regulations Act of 1972, every Pakistani has to disclose his foreign assets before the State Bank of Pakistan. The central bank has informed the FIA that not even a single Pakistani has disclosed offshore assets, said Zaheer Ahmad, Director Economic Crime Wing of the FIA.

The FIA director said that it had sent a list of 100 people who own properties in Dubai to UAE authorities for confirmation but never received a reply. The committee asked the FIA to share the list with FBR also.

Since the committee’s timeframe ended on Thursday, the issue would now refer back to the main committee to either give an extension to the special panel to complete its investigation or suggest another way. The main committee would meet next week.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2017.

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