The triumph of corruption

NAB was widely applauded when it had seized bags of money, bonds and foreign currency worth over Rs730 million from former finance secretary Mushtaq Raisani’s Quetta residence in May this year. After a detailed investigation, it was found that the corrupt bureaucrat also owned a dozen houses in Karachi worth around Rs2 billion. The finance secretary was accused of embezzling billions of rupees from the funds of the toothless and under-resourced local government of Balochistan.

After NAB’s raid, the disillusioned people of Balochistan heaved a sigh of relief as they thought that the accountability bureau would rid their province of corruption, nepotism and blatant pilfering of natural resources. However, the controversial plea bargain of NAB has flabbergasted them. After a thorough investigation, the Executive Board Meeting (EBM) of NAB estimated Raisani was involved in corruption worth Rs40 billion. Out of the blue, the EBM has now accepted a plea bargain of only Rs2 billion from Raisani and Sohail Majeed Shah, the contractor and front man of Khalid Lango and the former adviser to the chief minister of Balochistan.

The decision has set a bad precedent in an already corruption-infested Balochistan. Presumably, the plea bargain will encourage fortune-seeking politicians and bureaucrats to further misappropriate the province’s depleting resources rather than curb the menace of corruption. NAB’s decision is tantamount to showing the safe door of amassing ill-begotten money to politicians and civil servants so that they continue misusing the resources of Balochistan.

Almost all public departments and institutions of Balochistan are plagued by corruption and the misapplication of development funds. However, NAB has confined its accountability dragnet to the former finance secretary and his accomplices. The question that remains is: Who will bring to book the rest of the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats in the province? Billions of rupees were blatantly misappropriated by the government of Aslam Raisani from 2008 to 2013.

During his tenure, Balochistan did not make any headway and further regressed on the political, socio-economic and educational fronts. The National Party’s leader – Dr Abdul Malik Baloch – was nominated the chief minister of Balochistan after the May 2013 elections. He appointed Mushtaq Raisani as finance secretary and Khalid Lango as finance adviser. It is unthinkable that a bureaucrat and an adviser could preside over a vast provincial and inter-provincial corruption network without the knowledge and collusion of their political superiors.

Despite receiving over Rs1,200 billion from Islamabad since 2008, Balochistan is still the most backward province in the country. Powerful provincial politicians along with like-minded bureaucrats have either diverted this hefty amount into their secret bank accounts or buried it under their houses as Raisani did.

The literacy rate of the province has remained stagnant at 44 percent. Most educational institutions are bereft of basic facilities, and they do not have well-educated and trained teachers to impart quality education. As a result, the students from Balochistan cannot compete with those of Sindh, Punjab and KP in the CSS exam and other competitive examinations. Much of the provincial budgetary allocation to education is systematically embezzled and diverted to bank accounts of influential politicians and bureaucrats. The lack of quality education and job opportunities has compelled over 71 percent of Balochistan’s population to live in multidimensional poverty.

The controversial plea bargain of NAB does not bode well for the economic prosperity of Balochistan. The province is rich in precious natural resources – such as gold, copper and gas – and possesses an exceptional geostrategic and geo-economic location. The mega seaport of Gwadar is also located in the province.

The Supreme Court should intervene in a timely manner and direct NAB to scrap the plea bargain with the former finance secretary and his accomplices. After fully recovering the stolen money, the corrupt officials should be stringently punished so that the rest of the bureaucracy and politicians avoid plundering the resources of Balochistan. NAB should also commence investigations into the alleged corrupt practices of the former provincial set-ups of the PPP and the National Party.

 

The writer is an independent researcher and columnist based in Karachi.

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