Mushtaq Ghumman & Sohail Sarfraz

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance on Tuesday decided to lodge a complaint against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for not appearing before the committee meetings and taking the economic issues non-seriously.

The members of the NA body irrespective of their party affiliation decried both the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for not executing their responsibilities with regards to various corruption scandals. Daniyal Aziz of the PML-N spoke harshly against the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for failing to move ahead in probing the 400 persons whose names appeared in the Panama Leaks.

He said now another international issue – the Paradise Leaks - has emerged and there is a need that FBR and the SECP should inform parliamentarians about their performance in their probe. He also accused the SECP of hiding the reports of an insider trading scandal.

Daniyal Aziz strongly objected that the person whose name was not in the Panama Leaks was disqualified and the persons whose names appeared in Panama Leaks were not touched upon.

Asad Umar of PTI endorsed that it is a joke that no action has been taken against over 400 persons whose names appeared in Panama Leaks. He said that FBR’s investigation into the Panama Leaks is a joke.

Daniyal Aziz said the government would be able to access Swiss accounts owned by the Pakistanis following signing of revised convention on avoidance of double taxation with the Swiss authorities.

During the committee’s proceedings, Aziz argued that the whole accounting procedures have been altered after the decision of the Supreme Court, and said that the FBR too should be prepared to modify the accounting modes as per the decision of the apex court.

He said that the date for income tax return filing has been extended and now the taxpayers have to file returns on accrual based accounting principles.

Aziz said that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has reports on insider trading cases where money was sent aboard. These investigation reports are available with the SECP. The SECP should brief the committee about the names of persons involved in insider trading and action taken against them.

There is a lot of improvement in the working of the ZTBL, Aziz commented.

During the committee meeting, it was pointed out that the name of Aziz was not in the list of members in the agenda. The secretary committee said that he was no longer a member of the NA Standing Committee on Finance.

Aziz responded that he was a member of the committee; and eventually it was informed that his name has been replaced by the finance minister’s.

During the meeting, Asad Umar of PTI and Rashid Godil of MQM-P supported Aziz. Godil called the attention of Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, chairman of the committee, towards the continuous absence of finance minister, finance secretary and chairman FBR from the committee meetings.

Godil remarked, “Now when the key players are not present, what are we discussing here?”

At one moment, the chairman of the committee said he would prefer to resign from the committee.

Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh endorsed the viewpoint of members and further said, “I agree there is no use of this parliamentary forum, the finance minister, finance secretary and even the chairman FBR do not even bother to come to this committee.”

The officials of the State Bank of Pakistan presented amendments in ‘The State Bank of Pakistan Banking Service Corporation (amendment) Bill, 2017’ for approval.

The SBP officials said that it has been cleared by the senior officials of Finance Ministry. Responding to this, committee members and Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh said, “So it is clear and ok, why are you wasting time here in this committee?”

After discussion, it was decided that the SBP would bring the amendment along with a comparison with existing law.

“The problem is you people think that we MNAs do not know what laws and their repercussions are – maybe we cannot even read them, but bring it properly next time,” the chairman of the committee added.

Later, the secretary finance joined the meeting and spoke about his heavy engagements during the day.

The finance committee recommended to Ministry of Finance and State Bank of Pakistan to provide the replies on the following at the earliest: Increase in financial year debt and liabilities from June 30, 2016 to October 31, 2017; decline in State Bank of Pakistan financial year reserves from October 31, 2016 to October 31, 2016; forecast for financial year debt and liabilities for June 30, 2018 and State Bank of Pakistan reserves for June 30, 2018; mitigation plans for averting external account crisis; and SBP data for credit swaps from June 30, 2016 to October 31, 2017.

The committee also discussed “Eradication of Riba Bill, 2015” (moved by Sher Akbar Khan, MNA) and directed the Ministry of Finance to provide details regarding the measures taken by the government for eradicating interest from banking system.

The committee was informed by the additional secretary finance that Ministry of Finance has already convened a meeting to discuss “The Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Private Money Lending Bill, 2017” (moved by MNA Sajid Nawaz) with Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Commerce. The committee directed the Ministry of Finance to invite the mover of the bill when next internal meeting of the Ministry of Finance is held in this regard. The additional secretary finance said that the mover would be invited as per the directions of the committee.

While considering “The Controller General of Accounts (Appointments, Functions and Powers) (Amendment) Bill, 2017” (moved by MNA Asad Umar), the additional secretary finance informed the committee that same bill was already under consideration by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and the Senate panel has recommended that all concerned departments will complete their work till January 2018. The committee decided that ministry will present the outcome of the Senate committee in this committee as well.

The committee discussed “The State Bank of Pakistan Banking Services Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2017” and directed the State Bank of Pakistan to provide a comprehensive brief and Powerpoint presentation on it.

The committee considered “The Establishment of Federal Bank of Cooperatives and Regulation of Cooperative Banking (Repeal) Bill, 2017” and recommended that the bill may be passed by the National Assembly as reported by the committee.

The committee considered “the House Building Finance Corporation (Repeal) Bill, 2017”. The committee unanimously recommended that the “the House Building Finance Corporation (Repeal) Bill, 2017” may be passed by the National Assembly as reported by the committee.

The secretary Board of Investment informed the committee about the special economic zones in the country. He said that special economic zones will be developed by public sector, private sector and public-private partnership basis. He added that one time exemption from all customs duties and taxes on plant and machinery imported into Pakistan for the development, operation and maintenance of the SEZ would be provided to industrialists. The committee recommended that Board of Investment (BoI) should facilitate the foreign investors by providing all possible facilities in Pakistan including their boarding and lodging to attract investors in the country for the development of SEZ under the umbrella of the CPEC.

The meeting was attended by Rana Shamim Ahmed Khan, Isphanyar M Bhandara, Sardar Muhammad Jaffar Khan Leghari, Khalida Mansoor, Dr Shizra Mansab Ali Khan Kharral, Syed Mustafa Mehmud, Asad Umar and Abdul Rashid Godil, MNAs, besides senior officers from Ministry of Finance & Revenue, SECP, FBR, SBP and other stakeholders.