An unsavoury practice

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) may have been found wanting again and again in proving allegations of wrongdoing against high profile political personages, but this time it seems to feel that it has a solid case. It has filed a fresh reference against former president Asif Ali Zardari and ex-prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Yousuf Raza Gilani for taking home expensive gifts, including expensive cars, watches and jewellery given them by foreign governments in their official positions. Also named in the reference are the two main accused in the fake bank accounts case, Anver Majid and his son Abdul Ghani Majid, for helping Zardari obtain luxury vehicles from the Tosha Khana (gifts repository) and money laundering.

Notably, until the time of prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, as is the practice in advanced countries, all foreign gifts were deposited in the Tosha Khana. That was changed by the Zia regime under the pretext that the expensive articles stored in the repository were in a bad shape due to lack of proper care and hence needed to be disposed of. A rule was devised whereby the recipients could 'purchase' on determination of 'fair value' - only 15 percent of the real price. According to reports, Gen Zia received 210 gifts, out of which he deposited only 88 in the Tosha Khana and kept the rest, 210 of them. His prime minister Mohammad Khan Junejo made away with all 304 gifts except one. Gen Pervez Musharraf and his wife took possession of 515 gifts, including many diamond and gold jewellery sets, jewelled boxes, daggers and pistols. And the PM under him, Shaukat Aziz, walked away with 1,126 gifts, including necklaces, jewelled boxes, diamond and gold articles, watches and carpets. Since the rule permitted they cannot be held to account for something blatantly wrong. The present case seems to be different. If NAB is to be believed, in several instances, the three leaders did not bother even to deposit the presents in the Tosha Khana. Also the rule, whatever its worth, was allegedly bent for their benefit. According to NAB, Gilani as the prime minister and minister in-charge of the Cabinet Division during 2008-2012, had in connivance with the co-accused, Zardari and Sharif, 'dishonestly' and 'illegally' relaxed the procedure for the acceptance and disposal of gifts, which expressly stipulated that the vehicles shall not be allowed to be purchased by the recipients, and should be handed to the Central Pool of Cars. Worse still, even though Sharif did not hold any public office in 2008, he is alleged to have illegally obtained relaxation, in collusion with Gilani, of procedure for the acceptance and disposal of gifts.

Whatever is to be the fate of the reference, the government needs to put an end to this malpractice. The rule, a sort of deceit, should be withdrawn and an independent organisation created to maintain an inventory of all gifts to be placed where they could be better utilized. Luxury vehicles should go to the Central Pool of Cars for use by visiting dignitaries or the PM and President in their official capacity. Other items such as gold and diamond jewellery, jewelled boxes, watches, daggers, pistols etc., belong to museums. That can provide educational experience to young people, especially students, and also visual pleasure to many, many others.