Pakistan to publicly release redacted asset declarations of civil servants under IMF benchmark plan

The government on Thursday said that asset declarations of civil servants, required under International Monetary Fund (IMF) governance benchmarks, will be made publicly available in a redacted form to balance transparency with privacy protections.

The Federal Board of Revenue will be empowered to scrutinise and investigate civil servants over unexplained assets through an AI-based monitoring system.

The disclosure was made during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, which was chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla.

Establishment Division Secretary Nabeel Awan informed the committee that the Civil Servants Conduct Rules have been revised and the asset declaration system is being digitised through the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) platform.

He said the declarations would be published in redacted form, ensuring public access while safeguarding personal information, and clarified that asset declarations and income tax returns are governed under separate legal frameworks.

The committee also discussed a major customs-related irregularity, ordering investigations into two separate cases involving missing consignments of silver and skimmed milk.

Officials informed the panel that approximately 698 kilogrammes of silver had been confiscated in Balochistan, but during transport, it was found that only 298 kilogrammes remained, while the rest was allegedly replaced with lead.

About 400 kilogrammes of silver were reported missing, with customs officials describing the incident as a possible insider operation and confirming that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has initiated an inquiry.

The committee directed the Federal Board of Revenue to recover the missing silver, identify those responsible, and submit a detailed report, referring the matter to an interior sub-committee for further investigation.

Lawmakers also reviewed the Pakistan Sovereign Wealth Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2026, with members raising concerns over timing and implications during the ongoing budget cycle.

Officials said the proposed amendments aim to improve governance, operational efficiency, and management of state-owned enterprises, and are not directly linked to the federal budget process.

The committee, however, stressed the need to ensure that the changes do not negatively affect development funding or state-owned enterprise performance.

The bill also includes provisions requiring mandatory briefings to parliamentary committees on SOE performance.

The matter was deferred, with lawmakers seeking a clause-by-clause justification of the amendments before the next meeting.

The development follows earlier agreement in November 2025 between Pakistan and the IMF under the Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA), which outlined plans to publish asset declarations of senior officials in 2026 and introduce risk-based verification mechanisms under a $7 billion loan programme.