Courts yet to be set up to try Benami asset holders

Much like anti-Benami properties campaign, govt’s initiative to recover offshore assets has also failed to bear fruit

ISLAMABAD: Despite the government’s desire to move swiftly in the Benami properties cases, the Ministry of Law and Justice has yet not constituted appellate tribunals and special courts, which may create hurdles in taking nearly 15 ongoing references to their logical end.

Although the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has cautioned the Ministry of Law and Justice in a recent reminder that a delay in forming the tribunals could jeopardise adjudication of the Benami cases, the law ministry has remained unmoved thus far, with the FBR claiming criminal prosecutions under the Benami law could not be initiated due to the delay.

Approved in 2017, the Benami Transactions Prohibition Act became effective in April this year when the government approved its rules. The law prohibits holding of assets in others’ names, and violators can be punished with rigorous imprisonment and confiscation of properties.

PTI govt moves to unearth benami assets

However, before imposing punishment, the government has to establish the cases in an adjudicating authority, appellate tribunals, special courts and high courts. During the interim period, the FBR attaches properties allegedly kept by the beneficial owners in others’ names.

Much like its anti-Benami properties campaign, the government’s initiative to recover offshore assets worth billions of dollars has also failed to bear fruit as actual recoveries have amounted to less than $10 million.

On July 2, the FBR had provisionally attached for a three-month period properties worth billions of rupees allegedly owned by Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Senator Chaudhry Tanveer and the Omni Group. Under the Benami law of 2017, initiating officers are to file references before an adjudicating authority. The FBR has extended that period after the completion of two months of the attachment term.

Following the Adjudicating Authority’s decision, an aggrieved party can file an appeal before an Appellate Tribunal. According to FBR sources, three benches of the Adjudicating Authority are currently investigating 15 cases. The Karachi bench is hearing eight cases, the Islamabad bench six and the Lahore Bench one. Almost all the cases are high-profile, involving politicians and their friends from mainstream opposition parties.

Adjudicating Authority Chairman Jamil Ahmad has stated that the Authority has commenced hearings of references and may render its verdicts in the near future as he urged FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi to personally intervene in the matter.

He has further written that the Benami law allowed aggrieved parties to appeal the Adjudicating Authority’s decisions before a federal appellate tribunal within 45 days, adding that the adjudicating process ended only after the Appellate Tribunal’s decision.

For his part, FBR Chairman Shabbar Zaidi, in a conversation with The Express Tribune, said that he had issued reminders to the Ministry of Law and Justice to set up the Appellate Tribunals and Special Courts and it was now up to the Ministry to act. He also said he did not know the reasons behind the delay in setting up the tribunals.

FBR provisionally attaches alleged benami properties

The Ministry of Law and Justice’s response had not been received until the filing of this story.

In order to make the Benami law more effective, the PTI government has also recently promulgated the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 aimed at expanding the definition of a whistle-blower, the cabinet approving the inclusion in the definition of entities and agencies in addition to individuals for the purpose of the Benami law.

Information obtained during investigations by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) can now be legally used to trace and identify real owners of Benami properties.

But the overall process of moving against Benami asset holders remains painstakingly slow, mainly due to administrative lapses and financial constraints.