Politicians not serious in checking corruption

ISLAMABAD: In the post-Panama verdict situation, leading political parties have renewed their ugly mudslinging campaigns against each other but despite their massive presence in parliament none of these parties is keen to reform the anti-corruption apparatus of the country.

They are involved in allegations and counter-allegations to prove one another corrupt but lack the will to evolve a system of accountability, which should be trustworthy, independent and potent enough to check corruption without any fear and favour.

Whether it’s the ruling PML-N or the opposition parties, including PTI, PPP, Jamaat-e-Islami, MQM, etc., none has faith in any of the present anti-corruption institutions, yet these bodies are neither reformed nor replaced.  Indifference and apathy of the political parties towards the institution building contributes to furthering the impression that politicians are not serious in checking corruption. Instead, it is believed that they use corruption allegation only when its suits their politics, otherwise they are non-serious in catching and punishing the looters and plunderers of national wealth present among them.

During the recent months, the apex court while hearing the Panama case had repeatedly showed its no-confidence in the anti-corruption state apparatus, including NAB, FIA and FBR. The honorable judges lamented quite a few times that all concerned government institutions are not interested in probing the allegations made in the Panama Papers. The Supreme Court also reflected the same in the Panama verdict.

Allegations of tax evasion, illegal remittances from Pakistan, suspected siphoning off of capital through various companies registered in Pakistan into offshore companies could have been investigated by relevant stakeholders, including the NAB, FIA, Federal Board of Revenue, the State Bank of Pakistan and the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan. However, no meaningful probe has been done by any of these institutions to the satisfaction of the apex court.

The Panama Papers issue remained a “closed chapter” for all relevant Pakistani authorities, including NAB, FIA, State Bank of Pakistan and FBR. The FBR took up the matter following extreme pressure from politicians and media but only after almost five months.

The two top most anti-corruption state institutions -- NAB and FIA -- however never bothered even to consider initiation of an inquiry into this scam.

With the government showing no interest in institution building and the opposition also not keenly pursuing the goal of reforming the institutions, all eyes were set on the Supreme Court to direct the regime to depoliticize these state entities in a specified time-frame.

However, it also did not happen as the SC in the last verdict opted to leave it to the government and parliament to decide how they wanted to strengthen these institutions. 

The SC order said, “Yes, the officers at the peak of NAB and FIA may not cast their prying eyes on the misdeeds and lay their arresting hands on the shoulders of the elites on account of their being amenable to the influence of the latter or because of their being beholden to the persons calling the shots in the matters of their appointment, posting and transfer. But it does not mean that this Court should exercise a jurisdiction not conferred on it and act in derogation of the provisions of the Constitution and the law regulating trichotomy of power and conferment of jurisdiction on the courts of law.”

The order added, “Any deviation from the recognized course would be a recipe for chaos….. The solution lies not in bypassing but in activating the institutions by having recourse to Article 190 of the Constitution. Political excitement, political adventure or even popular sentiments real or contrived may drive any or many to an aberrant course but we have to go by the law and the book. Let us stay and act within the parameters of the Constitution and the law as they stand, till the time they are changed or altered through an amendment therein.”