Broad sheet and corruption jungle of Pakistan: Shafaqna Exclusive

by Tauqeer Abbas
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On Monday, the prime minister’s accountability adviser Shahzad Akbar said in a press conference that the government had received written permission from Mr Moussavi to make the judgement public and that Prime Minister Imran Khan had ordered that it be shared with the people of Pakistan without delay. The adviser said that the judgement clearly showed the cost that Pakistan had to pay for giving an NRO to those who had indulged in corrupt practices.

 Now everybody must wait for 45 days, when its report is due and then the government is expected to take whatever action the law deems necessary.
Yet it’s important for everybody, especially the government, to keep its eye on the ball so to speak and not let this matter descend into another round of political point scoring. So far, regrettably, that is exactly what seems to be happening. Opposition parties are taking advantage of a flawed approach to an important investigation in the times of previous administrations and holding the present ruling party responsible for them.
The government, too, is spinning some of the facts from the arbitration judgment, making them look like something that is not entirely true, to fuel its own anti-opposition narrative of corruption, money laundering, and all that. Senior ministers at a press conference on Tuesday went on about how the judgment proved that the Sharif family owned illegal assets to the tune of $820 million. They might now find it difficult to explain just why, then, their own lawyer during the appeal argued that even the reduced amount that the court calculated, $100 million, was too high. Still, the fact that the arbitrator concluded that the value of said Sharif family assets was $100 million, former PM Nawaz Sharif must be made to answer for it since no equivalent white money was declared by him or due taxes paid.
This, as adjudicated by the London High Court, was money stolen from Pakistan and laundered by Nawaz Sharif. Therefore this money, along with the $28 million paid to Broadsheet because of it, must be recovered from the former prime minister. What more proof could possibly be needed about the fact that the people of Pakistan paid the commission on properties owned by the Sharif family with ill-gotten money, which has still to be recovered?

Prime Minister Imran Khan has done well to constitute a committee to recommend a line of action on the findings of the judgement, including those pertaining to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Those who are responsible for decisions and actions that have cost Pakistan dearly must be identified, investigated and taken to task.

At the same time, this committee should also look into the disclosures made by Mr Moussavi after the judgement, including the allegation that some people during this government’s stint had asked him for bribes. There are plenty of skeletons in the Broadsheet cupboard and they must be brought out into the open. The PTI government must ensure full transparency in the matter so that no facts are allowed to be obscured at the altar of political expediency.

Shafaqna Pakistan

pakistan.shafaqna.com

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