Federal Minister for Law and Justice, Barrister Dr. Muhammad Farogh Naseem has said that Anti-Money Laundering legislation is a requirement to meet the criteria laid out by Financial Action Task Force (FATF). He expressed his views while giving an interview to a TV channel on Wednesday.
The Law Minister further said that it is wrong to suggest that making arrests without warrant in money laundering cases is not a requirement of FATF. According to Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) there are a number of offences for which arrests can be made without warrants. An arrest without warrant is not a violation of the Constitution. He said there are cognizable offences in which the police can arrest a suspect without a warrant and non-cognizable offences in which the permission has to be sought by the court to apprehend the suspect for questioning even in the countries like Canada and the United States.
He further said public is being misled to think the Bills that are being presented in the Senate are not connected with FATF or are not FATF requirements. He said not a single clause is there which does not meet the criteria laid out by FATF. A foreign consultant was engaged to report on the points Pakistan has to cover to comply with 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. He said the rejection of two FATF related bills by the Senate was unfortunate and the bills will likely be presented in the joint session of the Parliament.
Dr. Farogh Naseem said that he explained clearly on the Floor of the House that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been an investigating agency according to 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 in Anti-Money Laundering legislation. He further said the Government is open to amend NAB as long as the process of accountability is not compromised.
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