Pakistan has agreed to reform its asset declaration framework in response to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) criticism of gaps in the country’s anti-corruption mechanisms, according to a report by Dawn.
The IMF’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment questioned the effectiveness of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), calling it a “political compromise” and urging greater transparency to curb high-level corruption.
As part of the short-term action plan, Pakistan will begin publishing asset declarations of senior federal civil servants from 2026. The government and the IMF are also considering the creation of a centralized authority to collect, digitize, and publish such disclosures, along with introducing risk-based verification to strengthen integrity across institutions. However, concerns remain that reforms could stall once the IMF programme ends.
Medium-term recommendations include enhancing NAB’s independence, improving investigative capacity, and revising the process for selecting its chairman. The GCDA noted that the current appointment system, requiring political consensus, leads to “compromises” instead of a transparent, merit-driven selection.
Weak disciplinary action and limited prosecutions
The IMF’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA) flagged significant gaps in Pakistan’s disciplinary measures against corruption, especially within revenue departments. According to the report, investigative powers remain narrow, largely confined to conducting interviews or examining officials’ asset declarations.
While penalties may include stalled promotions or dismissal, the IMF observed that they “do not include a proposal for criminal prosecution.” It further noted that although prosecution is legally feasible, it “occurs only occasionally.”
Officials at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) were unable to present recent data on criminal cases pursued. The IMF warned that prosecution is a critical deterrent, but its “limited application in practice” and the “de facto exclusion of high-ranked staff” undermine its effectiveness.
The review also pointed to constraints faced by provincial anti-corruption units, which require approval from top provincial authorities before initiating inquiries. In a political landscape shaped by “patronage politics,” the IMF cautioned that such approvals “create risks that corruption investigations will not prosper against allies or supporters of the provincial governors.”
Additionally, limited access to essential databases, including taxation and banking records, hampers investigative progress.
Calling Pakistan’s asset declaration regime “fragmented,” the IMF reported that rules differ for officials across the civilian bureaucracy, political office-bearers, military, and judiciary, while most disclosures remain inaccessible to the public.
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