ISLAMABAD:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has observed that Pakistan is not effectively using data on the ultimate real owners of companies, creating hurdles in disrupting corruption-related laundering schemes and checking front companies from securing government contracts.

The global lender's draft report on the Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment revealed major flaws in the effective implementation of the country's beneficial ownership regime.

The IMF found "little evidence of routine coordination" between the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and investigation agencies for exchanging and using beneficial ownership data in financial investigations.

However, Pakistani authorities disagreed with the IMF's findings, stating that agencies were using

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