The Chief of Army Staff has recently withdrawn all the serving army officers from the National Accountability Bureau paving the way for the new government to set up its own credible and effective institution for good governance, accountability, transparency and predictability.
It may be added that the coalition government is preparing a constitutional package to set up an impartial and credible accountability commission in order to get the country rid of all sort of corruption through a sustainable and professional anti-corruption agency.
For a long time, social and political scientists have been stressing the need for a fair, credible and comprehensive legal and institutional mechanism that can spearhead the fight against this evil which has eroded the very fabric of the society, depleted limited resources, hampered economic development, exacerbated economic inequalities and had the biggest negative impact on the poor.
However all governments have been targeting and putting their opponents in jail under the garb of accountability and using their vast powers to pervert the judicial process and buy loyalties of politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists in the past.
Analysts regret that according to Transparency International, Pakistan ranks among the top corrupt countries with Police, Power sector, Judiciary and Land Management as the most corrupt institutions of the country, National Accountability Bureau Ordinance 1999 and other draconian legislative measures notwithstanding.
However, they point out that despite controversies surrounding the NAB as a tool for political victimisation, it will be highly unjust to sacrifice it at the cost of political compromises and expediencies.
NAB sources told Business Recorder that over the past nine years, the NAB has established linkages with foreign counterpart agencies, mutual legal assistance, extraditions/deportation arrangements with other countries, automation of its systems. Besides it has acquired a reservoir of experience and expertise, a pool of trained and talented manpower, legislative improvements and institutional mechanism to combat corruption in all its forms and manifestations.
They say though leaders of the two main coalition parties like Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari and Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif and his family were victimised by NAB operators, yet instead of demolishing this huge infrastructure and national asset, the government should reform it in such a way that its working is transparent, efficient, effective, dynamic, credible, across and above the board.
They recall that NAB has done a commendable job in providing relief in the cases of cheating the public at large during past eight years. The Cooperative Companies scam in Punjab, Double1 Shah's financial scam and a number of housing scams are some of the cases to establish its utility and retainability.
They say in the co-operative companies scam, NAB not only reimbursed the capital amount to the tune of 8.36 billion to the affectees but has now started paying back mark up as well. "What is needed in the circumstances is to extend helping hands of support and strength to the NAB, make it above board rather than to criticise and abolish it," they emphasise.
According to this year's report, NAB received 12,466 corruption and related complaints out of which 88 percent were processed, 636 inquiries into alleged corruption and corrupt practices were authorised. Similarly NAB finalised more than 300 investigations. As far recoveries are concerned, a staggering amount of Rs2,050.530 million was received by entering into plea bargains while another Rs8,490.158 million were recovered in bank default, cases through settlement.
They say given the spread and extent of the menace of corruption in Pakistan, one can safely assume the amount of corruption money recovered is only a tip of the iceberg for the reason that hardly any department can claim to be free of corruption.
They say the most unfortunate aspect of the sordid state of affairs is that the Pakistani society has accepted at a deep psychological level this social evil as an unavoidable necessity of life, judging the social status of individuals by the yardstick of luxuries and possessions irrespective of the means that led to its accumulation; "the scourge flourishes in an environment where corrupt elements go unpunished, where there is no social justice and no equality before the law."
They say the organisational and operational improvements initiated in the previous years have started coming to fruition and the transparent and consultative decision-making process through Executive Board Meetings has been institutionalised within the organisation.
"Significant efforts are being made to expedite resolution of case cheating the public at large, a multi-pronged approach has been adopted for scams in order to protect the public by creating awareness and deterrence and thereby prevent such frauds in the future," they added.
It may be recalled that the history of Pakistan's anti-corruption efforts shows a number of legislative and administrative measures leading to creation of anti-corruption agencies in the provinces to counter corruption and reduce the abuse of official authority for self-aggrandisement.
The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, Public Representatives (Disqualification) Act, 1949, Elected Bodies (Disqualification) Ordinance, 1959, the Anti-Corruption Establishment Act, Federal Investigation Agency Act, the Ehtesab Act, and finally the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, are the pivotal legislative interventions designed to perpetuate anti-corruption enforcement.
In 1999, General Musharraf's government entrusted NAB with the responsibility to investigate and prosecute cases involving offences of corruption and corrupt practices committed by a holder of public office or a private person, while ensuring that misappropriated assets are recovered, whether located in Pakistan or stashed away abroad.
The NAB was given the jurisdiction to initiate proceedings in matters where state money, government properties, funds of financial institutions or money belonging to the members of the public at large have been defalcated.
The NAB can employ persons and organisations within or outside Pakistan to trace, detect or identify assets kept abroad, if prosecution is deemed necessary after conducting inquiry and investigation, a reference can be filed for trial before the Accountability Court.
Enforcement powers such as freezing of assets, warrants of arrest, placing on Exit Control List, calling for information or persons and international mutual legal assistance can be invoked to ensure successful conclusion of cases in accordance with the dictates of law.
These enactments were aimed to punish those who had misused their authority and indulged in corruption and nepotism. These measures could have prevented the rise of corruption to quite an extent, but most of these initiatives were undertaken merely for political mileage and consequently failed not only to produce any definitive, tangible outcomes but also fell short of creating any element of deterrence.
Various reasons may be attributed to the failure of these initiatives. Although there were procedural weaknesses and complications in the processes, the lack of political will and conspicuous absence of neat, selfless leadership proved the main obstacles in taking the agenda forward.
It may be interesting to recall that President General Pervez Musharraf issued a 'National Reconciliation Ordinance' (NRO) on 5th October after reaching an agreement with PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto under which all cases of corruption filed between 1988 and 1998 against politicians, bureaucrats and public office holders have been withdrawn by NAB.
Terms and conditions of the NRO are secret. However, the post November 3, 2007 Supreme Court has declared NRO as a closed transaction which cannot be reopened or discussed.
CAUSES OF CORRUPTION:
In a report, the current NAB Chairman Navid Ahsan has listed a number of causes of corruption which include systemic, governance, political and corporate. Ahsan is very critical of the Corporate corruption.
He says the corporate sector is widely acknowledged worldwide as the singular force that provides the bedrock for economic growth and prosperity; however, there has unfortunately been an unabated trend within the corporate sector of attempts to exploit its loopholes in the system, bypass weak institutional arrangements and take undue advantage of innocent investors.
He says instead of contributing to economic growth, the corporate sector has to a large extent been responsible for instability in the financial markets and eroded the confidence of the general public. "Powerful brokerage houses and traders continue to influence share and commodity prices," he adds.
"Accordingly, market behaviour is hardly determined by the forces of demand and supply. A mechanism has yet to be placed to protect the consumers' rights effectively so as to guard against profiteering, inferior quality of products and services, and abnormal delays in service delivery.