Govt to Publicly Reveal Assets of Bureaucrats and Officers Via New FBR Portal

The government has assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that asset declarations of high-level public officials (BPS 17-22) (including domestic and foreign assets) would be made through a Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) new digital portal. The IMF’s staff report revealed that this will be to further operationalize the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules 1964 (Sections 12, 13, and 13-A) and consistent with the Right to Information Act of 2017. The government will amend the Civil Servants Act of 1973 to ensure that asset declarations of high-level public officials (BPS 17-22) (including domestic and foreign assets beneficially owned by them or a member of their family) will be digitally filed and publicly accessible (with sufficient safeguards over data protection and privacy of personal information such as ID numbers, residential addresses, bank account or bond numbers) through the FBR with a robust framework, resources and tools for the Establishment Division to conduct risk-based verification (structural benchmark, end-February 2025). The SBP, FBR, and FMU continue to support banks’ access to asset declarations of high-level public officials (BPS17-22), which has helped banks comply with their AML/CFT obligations and better risk-profile their customers who are politically exposed persons. In this regard, the SBP is engaging with banks to develop their standard operating procedures to implement the FBR rules on access to asset declarations. The FBR will launch by end-September a new digital portal to timely receive and respond to such requests. The government has been engaging with Provinces to issue regulations to similarly grant banks access to high-level provincial public officials (BPS17-22). The government will continue to monitor banks’ utilization of asset declarations through periodic assessments, and address challenges identified in the assessments, the IMF report added.