Govt says civil servants’ asset declarations will be published in redacted form

ISLAMABAD: The government told a Senate panel on Thursday that asset declarations of civil servants, required under benchmarks linked to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will be made available to the public in a redacted format aimed at balancing transparency with privacy.

Establishment Division Secretary Nabeel Awan briefed the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, on the status of asset declarations by government employees. He informed the committee that the government had amended the Civil Servants Conduct Rules and was working to digitise the asset declaration system through the Federal Board of Revenue platform.

Declarations would be publicly accessible in a redacted form to ensure transparency while safeguarding personal privacy.

Awan told the committee. He also said the purposes of asset declarations and income tax returns were different and that both were governed under separate legal frameworks.

Mandviwalla welcomed the move and directed that the revised conduct rules be shared with the committee for a detailed review and possible improvements. He also proposed examining amendments to the Election Act concerning the submission of parliamentarians’ asset declarations to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Committee orders probes into customs cases

The committee also reviewed two cases involving goods that went missing while in the custody of Pakistan Customs and ordered full investigations.

In one case, the panel was told that around 698 kilogrammes of silver had been confiscated in different cases in Balochistan. However, when the consignment was transported, only 298kg was allegedly found to be silver, while the remaining 400kg was lead. Customs officials told the committee the case appeared prima facie to be an insider job and said the Federal Investigation Agency had already started an inquiry.

Mandviwalla directed the FBR to recover the missing silver, identify those responsible and submit a comprehensive report. The matter was also sent to the interior sub-committee for further investigation.

The committee was also informed about the disappearance of a major portion of 2,000 bags of skimmed milk from the custody of Pakistan Customs, and it ordered a full investigation into the matter.

Sovereign wealth fund bill deferred

The panel further discussed the Pakistan Sovereign Wealth Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2026. Mandviwalla questioned the timing of the proposed changes and their wider implications as the budget process for the next financial year is under way.

Officials told the committee the amendments were meant to improve governance, operational efficiency and the management of state-owned enterprises, and were not directly connected to the federal budget. However, committee members voiced concern over delays in development funding and cautioned that the proposed changes should not negatively affect state-owned enterprises.

The proposed amendments also include mandatory briefings to parliamentary standing committees on the performance of state-owned enterprises. The committee deferred the matter for further discussion and asked the ministry to provide a clause-by-clause justification for each proposed amendment before the next meeting.

IMF-linked commitment

In November 2025, the government agreed to publish asset declarations of high-level public officials in 2026 and to introduce risk-based verification as part of efforts to strengthen accountability and integrity standards.

According to the IMF’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment, released by the Ministry of Finance as a structural benchmark under the ongoing $7 billion loan programme, the agreed short-term action plan seeks to strengthen accountability and integrity among high-level federal civil servants by initiating publication of asset declarations in 2026 and introducing risk-based verification of those declarations.