Business Community Not Be Harassed Under AML Laws: Director FIA

Business community would not be harassed under Anti Money Laundering (AML) laws as business friendly SOPs have been finalized to discourage abuse of authority by the concerned FIA officials, said Syed Shahid Hassan Director Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Faisalabad

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Aug, 2024) Business community would not be harassed under Anti Money Laundering (AML) laws as business friendly SOPs have been finalized to discourage abuse of authority by the concerned FIA officials, said Syed Shahid Hassan Director Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Faisalabad.

Addressing the business community during a meeting in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI), he said that proper documentation would be mandatory along with prior permission of Deputy Director AML to investigate any suspect.

He said that the business community must be fully aware of the complications and intricacies of cybercrimes as they may fall prey to it intentionally or unintentionally.

He assured to arrange awareness sessions for the business community in this regard. He said that data protection, data sharing and privacy falls within the ambit of cybercrime and 'we must understand it in its true perspective'.

He said that new technology is imperative to make major breakthroughs but it may have negative impact if it was used by the obscurants.

He further said that most of the people believe in messages received through social media and forward the same without ascertaining its truthfulness. He said, "We spend most of our time in cyber space instead of surviving in physical space without understanding the rules of the game."

He said that bank fraud cases have also recorded a phenomenal increase despite the fact the banks are regularly sending messages to their account holders to avoid providing any bank related information on phone to anybody. He said that telephone calls and emails are also not trustworthy however VPN is comparatively safe.

He urged upon the business community to ensure complete financial discipline in their concerned institutions in addition to hiring the services of competent experts to keep their data intact and safe in addition to installing a firewall.

He said that unnecessary hype is being created about AI while the prevailing global system is also supporting it.

He said that only 5% of global knowledge is available on the internet while maximum lies are being promoted through it.

He said that contrary to the west, Russia and China have their own IT system along with their dedicated search engines. He said that fraud cases have also increased due to the mobile banking system.

Earlier Dr Khurram Tariq President FCCI welcomed the guests and briefly introduced the Faisalabad chamber. He said that the major objective of FCCI is business advocacy in addition to promoting the working environment between government departments and the business community.

He said that most of the business community is unaware of the cybercrime and 'we must develop mutual understanding between the chamber and FIA to overcome the related issues'.

He said that FIA must educate the business community about the prohibited posts and data which should not be forwarded or shared with anyone.

He said that FIA should formulate SOP and share the same with the chamber for the benefit of its 9,000 members. He said that during businesses anyone may receive an objectionable transaction but on its basis all bank accounts of the parties should not be frozen.

He also requested the Director FIA to nominate a focal person so that petty and minor nature of issues could be resolved instantly.

Hashim Raza Deputy Director AML contradicted the apprehensions of the business community that they are being harassed unnecessarily.

He said that during 2022 no one was summoned to the FIA office while last year 3-4 persons were arrested who were nominated in FIRs. He said that FIA occasionally gets details of suspected banking transactions but it does not mean to freeze the accounts.

Later, Senior Vice President FCCI Dr Sajjad Arshad offered vote of thanks while President Dr Khurram Tariq presented FCCI shield to Syed Shahid Hassan Director FIA.