The Assets Recovery Unit (ARU), set up by former PM Imran Khan during PTI’s government, facilitated the recovery of Rs426.4 billion over the last three years, as per the documents prepared by the Cabinet Division this month.
According to the Cabinet Division’s yearbook for 2020-21, over Rs. 334 billion out of the total amount was recovered in the last fiscal year alone. This yearbook was prepared in May 2022; one month later, Mian Shehbaz Sharif took over as prime minister after ousting Imran Khan through a vote on no confidence.
Recoveries made by the ARU
Under the supervision of ARU, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) had worked proficiently over the last three years in PTI’s tenure. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and FIA with the help of enforcement agencies, finance monitoring organizations, and ARU, had made the following monetary recoveries, as per the document issued by the Cabinet Division:
- Rs. 295.6 billion in 17 years (2000 to 2017)
- Rs. 389.5 billion in the last three years alone
- Rs 6.4 billion in just three years out of which Rs. 3.6 billion was recovered in 2020
The document read, “In light of various Inquiry Commissions, constituted by the Federal Government, liabilities established and recoveries made by FBR were also off the charts. Recoveries of Rs. 30.5 billion are also directly attributed to [the] ARU.”
About the ARU
The ARU was set up on September 4, 2018, with the approval of the Federal Cabinet to “provide a forum” for law enforcement agencies, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), National Accountability Bureau (NAB), provincial anti-corruption establishments (ACEs) and Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) to “trace new cases and track all existing cases targeting eventual repatriation of unlawfully acquired offshore assets”.
This coordinating unit continues to network with the UK’s National Crime Agency and other foreign governments to “enter into legal instruments/MOUs to get the unlawfully acquired off-shore assets repatriated to Pakistan. [The] ARU does not recover any assets directly and assists various LEAs in [the] recovery of stolen assets,” as per the document.