The postal department suffered a loss of Rs559 million over the past five years as a result of corruption, misappropriation and embezzlement by its officials, the director general of Pakistan Post informed a parliamentary committee on Thursday, reported dawn news. He said that 538 cases of misappropriation involving Rs559m had surfaced from July 2009 to June 2014. These cases were registered by the police, National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency. A total of Rs107m was recovered from the officials found guilty and disciplinary action had been taken against those involved in malpractices. Pakistan’s ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2014 has improved. The TI described Pakistan’s CPI score of 29 out of 100 and ranking of 126 among 175 countries as the best. The country has never achieved this distinction since the first CPI was issued in 1995. However despite slight improvement Pakistan stands among the top most corrupt countries. Pakistan’s Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), an independent research group, shed fresh light on the complexities of corruption. The data was drawn from Pakistan’s Election Commission, an independent body that compiles the financial declarations and tax statements of political candidates. According to the CIR, almost 50 per cent of Pakistani lawmakers pay no tax at all, and more than 1 in 10 have never registered with tax authorities. Those that do pay contribute negligible amounts. 2010 figures from the Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency estimate that legislators in Pakistan have a net worth, on average, of $800,000. And yet, according to the CIR’s report, many pay less than $100 in tax, with some contributions as low as $17. Rampant corruption threatens to undermine the flow of billions of dollars of investment and aid into the country. Combatting corruption was one of the conditions of a $6.7 billion IMF aid programme awarded previous .
It is an open secret that over the past few decades, Pakistan’s ruling elite has transferred huge amounts of money to Swiss and other banks. This money, generated through illegal activities by rapacious politicians, avaricious bureaucrats, terrorist and drug-for-arms networks and greedy businessmen, was never declared for tax purposes. Pakistan’s black economy is said to be three times its regular economy. In 1996, a lawyer Javed Iqbal Jafree filed a petition against political leaders holding assets abroad and requested the court to issue notices named in the petition. The petitioner alleged that the respondent politicians transferred at least 300 billion US dollars to foreign countries through money laundering. He said by doing this the politicians caused a huge loss to the national exchequer. Subsequently, court notices were issued but for lack of any follow-up measures, the case has remained pending. It is interesting that ruling junta uses diversionary theories by keeping busy people in other issues. For example the oligarchs are doing their dirty work, all in the name of people, while people are being kept occupied with the dominant myths like Indian threat, Kashmir’s liberation, Islamisation vs secularisation, war against terrorism and democracy vs dictatorship. The menace of corruption has thwarted all efforts aimed at institution building and improving public service delivery.
pk.shafaqna.com
