“Sad that!” “What? The state of the economy? The fact that simply getting a Fund program is the narrative, a matter of accomplishment and rejoicing, a programme that was stalled because of a man with little understanding of economics whose policies cost the country 4 billion dollars in lost remittances.”

“Hey does he have any understanding of accounting? I mean the narrative against HMS by the opposition is of money laundering and a good accountant would surely have ensured that one’s pay master escapes official scrutiny.”

“HMS?”

“His Powerful Samdhi.”

“I see anyway to escape scrutiny in this country necessitates being in power – with easy access to all those who head institutions and…”

“Hush, anyway for your information The Dependent Samdhi did a good job of money laundering it was the revelations in those dratted Panama papers…”

“I thought The Dependent Samdhi gave a 42-page affidavit which is how the rest of us found out the money laundering route.”

“Hmmm, it is sad that Musharraf kept the affidavit but did not proceed to…”

“Hey that was long ago and the world had not taken a united stand against money launderers.”

“Excuse me but 570 million dollars of ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family was returned to the Philippines by 1998.”

“Remember that six years before that, in 1992 the Protection of Economic Reforms Act was passed – an Act that allowed the rich including The Powerful Samdhi to open foreign currency accounts with no restriction on maintenance or operations of these foreign currency accounts and transfer all the money abroad, so it was all legal my friend.”

“Anyway The Dependent Samdhi was sitting on the dais during the National Seminar on Agriculture and Food Security and looked sad I thought.”

“Sullen rather than sad. Though why I am not sure because the Prime Minister again gave credit for the nine-month Fund programme to the team, which we all know is not true.”

“Well he knows no one is convinced of that.”

“That is so obvious - in any case I would urge a public interest litigant to seek his accountability in terms of losing us 4 billion dollars of remittance inflows since September 2022 because of his inane policies…”

“What? You dumb? Did you not hear me say that cases in this country are won depending on…”

“Hush, be careful, say no more.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023