Loan write-offs and PAC

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) under the chairmanship of the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, has requested the Finance Ministry to provide a list of people whose loans were written off during the eight years of Musharraf's regime as well as the names of those who issued the loans in the first place.
That such a request can only be applicable to a state owned bank stands to reason as private banks maybe susceptible to some political pressure but, unlike a state owned bank, are not bound by it. Private banks routinely undertake an accounting process under prudential regulations and are forced to classify some as non-performing loans or NPLs after the lapse of a period of time.
They are then empowered to liquidate the collateral and any debt still left over after the sale of collateral has to be written-off. The beauty of such a system is that the government is unable to exercise any influence over the decision to write-off an entire loan without liquidation of collateral. Thus, ideally, the government must privatise all banks if it wants to ensure that there are no loans written-off based on nepotism or cronyism in future.
Critics of private banks, and they have proliferated in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, would argue that the blame for the current recession has to be laid at the doorstep of private banks and stricter regulations, including with respect to the launch of innovative consumer products as well as exorbitant salaries and bonuses of chief executive officers, are necessary to ensure that there is no repeat of what happened. There is, therefore, a need for the government to ensure that private banks are strictly regulated and monitored and lessons learned from the global financial turmoil be applied to them.
PAC also requested a list of bankers who had approved the loan write-offs. This challenges the age old argument that has been put forth by those who come directly under the executive branch of government that has the right to fire, demote or transfer them to the backwater of beyond unless they follow their unwritten directives.
International courts have largely decided against such officials' meekness in the face of 'illegal' directives. Be that as it may it is patently evident that few have challenged the writ of the executive branch of government which is why this country has been left in shambles with respect to the economy as well as its institutions. In this instance it is preferable to undertake reforms that would remove us from the ambit of government control wherever possible.
PAC also took note of violations of rules and regulations in the allotment of plots to judges. What is relevant in this instance is that awarding of state land routinely to retiring bureaucrats, judges, and services' personnel is a policy that needs to be revisited as such land is finite. The government must link their pay with the ability to purchase a retirement home.
The PAC also took note of some indiscretions which are, unfortunately, almost considered routine in this country: the firing of the Tourism Managing Director on allegations that he refused to hand over a vehicle coveted by the Tourism Minister, the awarding of contracts to two Lahore firms by the Civil Aviation Authority and other embezzlements. One would hope that such serious misdemeanours would be more appropriately dealt with in a democratic dispensation.