Bank accounts: Top brass, politicians undergo extra scrutiny, Senate panel told

ISLAMABAD: People holding higher/senior positions including politicians and government officials go through more scrutiny for opening bank accounts to fulfill the condition put forth by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

This was revealed by senior official of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication, which met under the chairmanship of Rubina Khalid, here on Monday.

The committee took the matter of not allowing Senator Farhatullah Babar to open easy paisa account and wrote a letter to the committee.

The chairperson asked what the fear from politicians opening a bank account is.

Why bank accounts of politicians are not opened?

This restriction on politicians is beyond comprehension, said Rubina Khalid, adding that where do politicians have to run?

The Director Banking Policy SBP said that Pakistan was on grey list and biometric verification was mandatory for opening bank account. Due to coronavirus pandemic, biometric verification for opening bank accounts was suspended. People in senior positions have to go through more verification for bank accounts. This is the FATF condition and not of the SBP, he added. This condition does not apply only to politicians. The chairperson of the committee said that the politically exposed person should be clarified on which the SBP director said that it also includes government employees and international names. He further said that there was no restriction on opening an account.

Further it was checked with Telenor, he said that no such ban had been imposed.

The committee sought detailed briefing on the issue in the next meeting.

The committee expressed displeasures over the non-increase in pension of the PTCL pensioners, observing that injustice had been done to the officials.

The federal secretary IT said that the power to implement was not with him but with the board under the Trust Act.

The Standing Committee refused to take a briefing from the MD Pakistan Telecommunication Employees Trust (PTET) regarding the non-increase in the PTCL pensions.

Committee member Rukhsana Zubair said that the matter relates to implementation.

The committee also sought details of pensioners who have died since 2011.

The committee also sought agreement to lease buildings from the PTET.

Rukhsana Zubair said that they were accountable to the people and this institution was accountable to them.

Rubina Khalid said that pensioners were being held back for giving them those rights. The matter should be referred to the FIA, she added.

This money belongs to these pensioners, and not to the board; it is beyond tolerance, they are being given money as if they are begging, said Rubina Khalid, adding that they are ashamed to come here.

The federal secretary IT asked by the PTET officials what had hampered the implementation, to which the MD PTET said that the Board of Trustees had to decide.

Rukhsana Zubair said that the PTET had no authority to invest its funds but despite that it had invested in the stock exchange.

The chairperson of the committee said that the committee would convene an internal meeting of the members, and decide whether the matter should be referred to the FIA.

Briefing the committee on dgskills CEO Ignite, said that Pakistan ranks third among freelancers in IT.

Minorities and special people, eunuchs have been trained in freelancing on how to take business from the global market.

The federal secretary IT said a government package was also needed for the IT sector.

Rukhsana Zubair said that more attention was only paid to the textile sector.

Senator Faisal Javed said that the SBP was bringing an excellent programme for overseas Pakistanis.

The programme will be launched in the next seven to eight days. The meeting was attended among others by Engineer Rukhsana Zubair, Sana Jamali, Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, and Faisal Javed, senior officials including the Federal Secretary IT Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui and the chairman PTA.