Anti-Corruption Champion John Penrose has met with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability (SAPM) Mirza Shahzad Akbar in London.
They discussed strategies for making joint efforts in curbing the menace of corruption and plugging existing loopholes at home and abroad.
Mirza Shahzad Akbar also met UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid, where they spoke on issues of mutual interest, particularly those related to the provision of mutual legal assistance, extradition requests, prisoner transfer agreement and steps to curb money laundering as well as recovery of assets acquired through illegal means. They also discussed matters pertaining to assistance and support on technical matters, analytical advice and skills capacity building.
The SAPM held meetings with other representatives of the UK Government as well, during which he met Debbie Price, the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor of the International Justice & Organized Crime Division and Philomena Creffield, Head of the UK Central Authority. The two sides agreed on working in close cooperation at the operational level, having enhanced collaboration in the area of information sharing and reviewed progress on specific cases for extradition requests made to the UK Government.
Later on, SAPM visited the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where he was received by the UK Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP) Gareth Bayley. Both sides discussed a wide range of bilateral issues and expressed their commitment to work closely together. Mr. Bayley expressed the British Government’s firm commitment to support Pakistan in its resolve towards fighting corruption and carrying out the accountability process for justice to ensure transparency.