By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has committed to publish asset declarations of senior public officials starting in 2026 and to introduce risk-based verification of those filings as part of concessions to the International Monetary Fund to bolster accountability amid entrenched corruption.
The pledges are contained in the IMF’s first Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment for Pakistan, published Thursday by the Finance Ministry as a structural benchmark under the lender’s $7 billion Extended Fund Facility. The 2023–2027 program, approved in September 2024, has kept the South Asian nation afloat after it narrowly averted default last year.
The report pulls no punches on the National Accountability Bureau, the country’s lead anti-graft agency, describing its leadership selection process as a “political compromise.” The current system, which requires consultation between the government and the opposition leader to appoint the NAB chairman, “lends itself to political compromises rather than a merit-based, open, and competitive selection process,” the IMF said.
In the short term, Islamabad has agreed to “strengthen accountability and integrity among high-level federal civil servants by initiating the publication of asset declarations in 2026 and introducing risk-based verification of asset declarations,” according to the document.
Over the longer term — potentially beyond the current IMF program’s scheduled completion in 2027 — the government and the Fund will “consider establishing a centralised authority to collect, digitise, and publish asset declarations of high-level public officials, with adequate powers and resources to conduct risk-based verification.”
The IMF also called for medium-term reforms to sharpen NAB’s independence and effectiveness, including stronger appointment procedures for its chairman, enhanced investigative training and capacity, and the creation of robust internal accountability mechanisms.
Disciplinary actions against corrupt officials, especially senior revenue staff, remain weak, the report found. Penalties range from withheld promotions to dismissal but “do not include a proposal for criminal prosecution,” which is legally possible but “occurs only occasionally.” The Federal Board of Revenue was unable to provide recent data on criminal prosecutions launched against its own staff.
In the provinces, anti-corruption establishments need approval from chief ministers or governors before opening investigations — a requirement that “in the context of patronage politics in Pakistan, creates risks that corruption investigations will not prosper against allies or supporters of the provincial governors,” the IMF said. These agencies also lack access to key databases, including national ID records, tax information, asset declarations, and bank accounts.
Pakistan’s asset-declaration regime is fragmented and largely shielded from public view. Serving military officers file under separate rules that do not require public disclosure. Judges submit declarations to the Supreme Court chief justice, but those filings remain confidential. Even the NAB chairman and senior officials are protected from disclosure on privacy grounds.
The IMF stressed that “it is critical, however, that there is a robust, independent, and credible system for collecting and verifying asset declarations.” It recommended adding lifestyle checks — comparing officials’ living standards with declared income and wealth — as an additional deterrent against illicit enrichment.
On NAB leadership, the Fund questioned statutory qualification requirements that restrict candidates to retired Supreme Court or high court judges, senior military officers, or Grade-22 civil servants, sharply narrowing the talent pool. It urged the creation of a multi-stakeholder commission — including representatives from government, opposition, judiciary, civil service, academia, and civil society — to run an open, transparent, and rules-based selection process.
Finally, the IMF recommended establishing an “autonomous and multi-stakeholder oversight body” to audit NAB’s internal controls, a step it said would significantly improve transparency, legitimacy, and reduce risks of politicisation.
The diagnostic is the first comprehensive IMF governance assessment ever published for Pakistan and forms part of broader efforts under the current program to address long-standing institutional weaknesses that have repeatedly pushed the country to the brink of sovereign default.
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