LAHORE: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab has initiated a more structured and intelligence led approach to tackling corruption and illicit financial flows, as it undertook a comprehensive review of its specialised units dealing with money laundering investigations and asset recovery, while outlining its role in strengthening Pakistan’s national anti money laundering framework.
Officials told Daily Jang that the review meeting chaired by Director General ACE Punjab Sohail Zafar Chattha at the Directorate General assessed the operational progress of the Money Laundering Investigation Unit (MLIU) and the Asset Management and Recovery Unit (AMRU), and examined institutional contributions to the National Risk Assessment (NRA) 2023. Additional Director General Nadeem Hussain, Director Vigilance Wazir Khan Virk and officers of both units attended the session.
At the outset, participants reviewed the outcomes of a two-day multi stakeholder consultative workshop on organised crime held in Islamabad in February 2026 under the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The workshop brought together representatives from key national institutions, including the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Authority, National Accountability Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency, Anti-Narcotics Force, Federal Board of Revenue and provincial anti corruption bodies.
The meeting was briefed on evolving policy and legislative developments, including proposed amendments to the Anti Money Laundering Act, 2010, presented by AML/CFT Authority Director General Ehsan Sadiq and governance expert Tariq Khosa. The proposals, currently under consultation, aim to address regulatory gaps and further align Pakistan’s regime with international standards.
Deliberations also focused on the findings of the National Risk Assessment 2023, which provides a detailed evaluation of Pakistan’s exposure to money laundering and terrorism financing risks. The assessment categorises corruption and bribery, tax evasion, smuggling, hawala/hundi and cross-border cash movement as very high-risk threats, while also identifying narcotics trafficking, fraud and emerging cybercrime trends as significant concerns.
It further highlights systemic vulnerabilities across financial institutions, designated non-financial businesses and professions, and the non-profit sector, particularly in the areas of regulatory compliance, supervision and enforcement. The NRA underscores the need for a risk based policy approach, enhanced oversight mechanisms and stronger coordination among federal and provincial stakeholders.
Briefing the forum, the Director Vigilance, who attended the Islamabad workshop as focal person, emphasised that provincial agencies, including ACE Punjab, must integrate NRA findings into their enforcement strategies to ensure coherence with national priorities.
In this context, the Director General outlined a set of directives aimed at strengthening institutional capacity and evidence-based policymaking. He instructed the collection and analysis of data to identify the ten most corruption-prone departments in Punjab, based on complaint patterns and case trends. The exercise, he noted, would enable a granular understanding of sectoral vulnerabilities.
He further directed the formulation of a comprehensive “vulnerability index” for these departments, to be developed by the Director Vigilance in coordination with the Deputy Director General. The index will inform targeted interventions and policy prescriptions, to be communicated to relevant administrative authorities for corrective action and systemic reform.
Recognising the growing complexity of financial crime, Chattha also ordered the establishment of a dedicated pool of trained officers for money laundering investigations and prosecution. The Additional Director General was tasked with nominating four officers from headquarters and one officer each from regional offices to form a specialised cadre capable of conducting parallel financial investigations, tracing proceeds of crime and developing prosecutable cases.
The DG stressed the importance of sustained capacity building, directing enhanced coordination with the Management and Professional Development Department (MPDD) for advanced, domain-specific training. Key focus areas include utilisation of financial intelligence generated by the Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU), techniques of parallel financial investigation and adoption of robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
Officials observed that the strengthening of MLIU and AMRU marks a shift towards modern, intelligence-driven enforcement, with greater emphasis on financial profiling, asset tracing and recovery and disruption of illicit financial networks linked to corruption.
The review assumes added significance in the backdrop of Punjab government’s ongoing governance reforms under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s zero-tolerance policy against corruption.
The policy framework calls for institutional strengthening, transparency in public administration and strict accountability, with explicit directions to anti-corruption bodies to enhance enforcement effectiveness and inter agency coordination.
By aligning its operational priorities with the National Risk Assessment and reinforcing specialised investigative capacity, ACE Punjab aims to play a more substantive role in the national anti money laundering and counter terror financing regime, while advancing the province’s broader accountability and governance agenda.
