Bringing back money sent abroad illegally is top priority: Pakistan FinMin

Pakistan's Finance Minister Asad Umar has said that the priority of the new government is to bring back the "huge" amount of funds transferred abroad through the illegal practice of money laundering, amid reports that $200 billion had been stashed abroad by Pakistanis.

Umar said that nobody, including himself, knew exactly how much wealth Pakistanis had stashed abroad, except the $8 billion invested in the Dubai real estate market, as stated by the Dubai Real Estate Authority, Dawn reported.

They were "huge amounts and since we have been talking about this, the first decision of the cabinet under Prime Minister Imran Khan was to constitute a task force, which has been given two weeks to formulate a strategy to repatriate the looted money that has been filtered out of Pakistan thanks to years of corruption," the paper quoted Umar as saying.

Talking to the media after he was given his first briefing as the minister for finance by the secretary, Umar said that the former finance minister, Ishaq Dar, had stated on the floor of the National Assembly that $200 billion had been stashed abroad, the paper reported.

But, Umar said, the previous government had failed to take any concrete measures to repatriate the money, the paper reported.