Arrest without warrants not unconstitutional, says law minister

Law Minister Farogh Naseem said on Thursday the anti-money laundering legislation was a requirement to meet the criteria laid out by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Talking to media, the minister rejected the opposition’s contention, saying that it was wrong to suggest that making arrests without warrant in money laundering cases was not a requirement of the FATF.

According to Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) there are a number of offences for which arrest can be made without warrants, the law minister told reporters, adding that arrest without warrant was not a violation of the Constitution.

He pointed out that there were cognisable offences, in which police could arrest a suspect without a warrant, and non-cognisable offences, in which permission had to be sought from the court to apprehend the suspect for questioning.

The people were being misled to think that the bills that were presented in the Senate had not been connected with the FATF or were not the FATF requirements. “Not a single clause is there which does not meet the criteria laid out by FATF,” he added.

“A foreign consultant was engaged to report on the points Pakistan has to cover to comply with the FATF and the work on the legislation has been done in the light of the report by the foreign consultant as well as internal reports and the reports by FATF,” the minister said.

He added that the rejection of two FATF-related bills by the Senate was unfortunate and the bills would likely to be presented in the joint session of the parliament.

The minister said that he had explained clearly on the floor of the house that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had been an investigating agency, according to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) which was enacted in 2010 and that the incumbent government had nothing to do with it.

“NAB cannot be removed as an investigating agency from the anti-money laundering legislation,” the minister said, adding that the government was open to amend NAB as long as the process of accountability was not compromised.