Government forms committee to decide fate of UNCAC Country Review report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is currently considering the possibility of withholding a significant portion of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption’s (UNCAC) Country Review Report, just six months after committing to full disclosure to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a committee led by the Law Minister to assess whether the report should be made public in its entirety or if only its executive summary should be released, as reported by government sources.

According to The Express Tribune, this decision came just days ahead of an IMF mission visit aimed at reviewing Pakistan’s compliance with its earlier commitment to disclose the full report.

The IMF’s review mission, which began discussions on Monday regarding the second loan tranche of $1 billion, is expected to request an update this Friday on Pakistan’s commitments before reaching a staff-level agreement.

This time, the IMF team is engaging separately with the State Bank of Pakistan in Karachi and federal government officials in Islamabad.

Preliminary discussions included fiscal-related data and the status of fiscal targets for the first half of the year.

Last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif established a seven-member Cabinet Committee specifically to address the UNCAC Country Review Report. This committee consists of three federal ministers, three secretaries, and a director-general from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Pakistan ratified the UNCAC in 2007, completing two review cycles under the convention and has the option to either publish a full report or release only the executive summary.

However, the country had previously committed to the IMF in September of last year to fully disclose the report upon its completion. The Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies signed as part of the $7 billion deal specifies, “We will issue a federal regulation by end-September 2024 to formalise our intention to immediately publish the full and complete UNCAC review report once the review process is finalised.”

IMF delegation arrives in Pakistan for economic review

As part of this deal, the IMF recently arranged a Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment Mission to Pakistan, which held discussions with the Chief Justice to evaluate judicial appointments and related matters. This corruption assessment mission is expected to finalize its findings, with a report anticipated by July 2025.

According to sources, the Law Ministry briefed the federal cabinet last month, seeking its guidance on how to proceed with the report. However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has tasked Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar with reviewing the necessity of publishing a complete or partial report.

The Cabinet Committee includes various members, such as: Minister for Information Atta Tarar, Minister of State for Finance Ali Pervaiz Malik, and secretaries from key ministries including Foreign Affairs and Finance, alongside DG NAB.

The committee has been assigned two primary responsibilities: examining Pakistan’s Country Review Report under UNCAC’s second review cycle and evaluating options for either a full publication of the report or just the executive summary.

The committee is expected to submit its recommendations regarding the publication of the report or its executive summary for the cabinet’s consideration by March 13, coinciding with the completion of the IMF Mission’s visit to Pakistan.

According to a government official, that Nigeria and Qatar had conducted an anti-corruption assessment of Pakistan and submitted a comprehensive report, some recommendations of which are already being implemented. These include addressing overlaps between the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and NAB, as well as enhancing the functions of various regulatory bodies.

The report was prepared with assistance from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), typically resulting in a review report ranging from 80 to 300 pages, with an executive summary of 7 to 12 pages.

The country review report and its executive summary are submitted to a focal point for approval, leading to dialogue and consensus on the final report, which may only be published with the agreement of the country under review.

Once finalised, the executive summary is translated into the six official languages of the United Nations and published as a document of the Implementation Review Group.

The second cycle of the review covers areas concerning preventive measures and asset recovery.

The Ministry of Law and Justice has already released the anti-corruption task force’s review report and is formulating a strategy to implement the recommended actions.

This task force has called for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to establish regulations regarding the asset declarations of civil servants in Basic Pay Scale 17-22 and their spouses. The IMF has requested that this become law, which is currently pending approval.

The task force has also proposed amendments to the Elections Act to require non-elected advisors and special assistants to the Prime Minister to submit statements of assets and liabilities. They recommended necessary changes in both NAB law and FIA regulations to define clear mandates, create a joint offense list, and establish coordination mechanisms for both agencies to effectively collaborate on cases under their jurisdiction.

Further recommendations included providing training to NAB, FIA, and provincial anti-corruption department officers on jurisdictional boundaries and reassessing the staffing of FIA officers stationed at airports in terms of immigration responsibilities.

A public campaign was also suggested to promote integrity among officials and educate the public on their right to request disclosure of public information under the Right to Information Act, as well as the existing regulatory framework for reporting corrupt practices.