SBP rejects money laundering allegations

The State Bank of Pakistan on Tuesday categorically rejected allegations of involvement in money laundering. Referring to the statements made by member National Assembly Asad Umar, during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatisation, a State Bank of Pakistan statement said it is unfortunate that allegations of involvement of State Bank of Pakistan in money laundering have been made. It was also alleged by Asad Umar that SBP has not provided information for the last four months regarding investments made by the Pakistanis in Dubai real estate market.
"SBP, categorically, rejects such allegations of its involvement in money laundering and clarifies that there is no request for information pending with it," it added. In this context, SBP has clarified that on December 19, 2016, SBP received a set of questions from the Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization, National Assembly Secretariat regarding advertisements published in Pakistani newspapers inviting people to invest in real estate in Dubai, etc. Some of these questions pertained to SBP while the rest were in the domain of other government agencies.
SBP also mentioned that "on January 03, 2017, it responded through Finance Division while answering the questions relevant to SBP. Previously, SBP had also provided its views on issues related to buying of properties in Dubai raised by the same MNA in NA committee meeting." SBP has reiterated that it always stands ready to share any information with the august parliament within the domain of law.