Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday ordered that financial monitoring units be activated across the country as he reiterated his commitment to clamping down on elements involved in money laundering, Radio Pakistan reported.

Meanwhile, the prime minister was briefed by officials of different departments about the progress made to curb money laundering. The PM was also apprised of the ongoing work to facilitate opening of bank accounts by the Afghan nationals on the basis of their identity cards issued by National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

Finance Minister Asad Umar, PM’s special assistant Shahzad Akbar, heads of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and interior secretary attended the meeting held under the chairmanship of the prime minister.

The SBP governor, giving a detailed briefing on steps taken by commercial banks to prevent money laundering, said on the charges of fake accounts, a total fine of Rs247 million was imposed on six officials while inquiry was being initiated against 109 bank officials.

The meeting was informed that Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) of the SBP was being strengthened and its coordination with other departments was being improved to timely detect and prevent suspicious bank transactions. It was said 8,707 suspicious bank transactions were detected last year while 5,548 suspicious bank transactions had been found in 2017.

Mr Khan was told that Memorandums of Understanding were being signed with the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Qatar and Australia for sharing of information about money laundering.

A customs official informed the meeting that currency and goods worth Rs439 million were confiscated during the current year, whereas items worth Rs131 million had been seized during the same period last year.

The prime minister was briefed that the customs department had confiscated over Rs20 billion currency over the past one year, whereas Rs12 billion had been recovered in 2017.

The FBR officials said a total of 335 suspicious transactions were detected in three years from 2016 to 2019 and over 500 cases were investigated and a sum of Rs6.6 billion was recovered. Similarly, foreign currency worth Rs305 million was seized, 11 cases were made and 11 persons were arrested over the past four months.

The prime minister was also informed that as a result of incentives offered to overseas Pakistanis, foreign remittances had increased by 12.5 per cent.

A separate briefing was given by the interior secretary on steps taken at the borders to check money laundering.

Mr Khan said the menace of money laundering had caused irreparable loss to the economy. “People involved in money laundering do not deserve any concession and they must be exposed before the nation,” he added.