PAK CITIZENS STASHED AWAY $11BN ABROAD, SAYS MINISTER

: Pakistani nationals having more than 152,500 offshore bank accounts could have stashed away $11 billion, a “mindboggling” amount half of which is undeclared, a top minister was quoted as saying in a media report on Tuesday.

Minister of state for revenue Hammad Azhar told businessmen at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) that the number of offshore accounts was “mind-boggling”.

“So is the amount involved and the names of account holders,” Azhar was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

“All of these offshore account holders are resident Pakistanis and more than half of the hard currency stashed away by them is undeclared,” he said.

The minister said many of these offshore account holders did not have legitimate, documented business.

“That should be enough to underscore the scale of tax evasion ( i n t he c o untry) . We wouldn’t have to beg if we could bring this money back home,” he said.

Azhar s ai d t he of f s hore account holders were under the watch of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The information about the offshore bank accounts of Pakistani nationals was shared with the government by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Azhar said the government had “deployed technology” using database of the National Database and Registration Authority, Federal Investigation Agency, State Bank of Pakistan and the FBR to profile potential taxpayers in Pakistan.

“Almost half the work is already done and by the end of April the profiling of such tax evaders will be completed,” he said. PTI

ISLAMABAD