Benazir
Bhutto
The
death of Omar Asghar, a former Pakistan Federal Minister, in Karachi
last month raises clouds of suspicion. Omar was found dead by family
members after they broke open the door to his room. Police said he
committed suicide leaving a suicide note in his handwriting. Close
associates denied Omar was depressed. The regime condoled without
ordering an inquiry.
Some tie Omar's death to disappearing pension funds and improperly
audited NGO funds used in local elections last year. His death comes
at a time when Washington is spending billions of dollars to discover
means that funded Al Qaeda and the methods used to launder the money.
Even as Al Qaeda is vanquished from Afghanistan, the hunt for them
continues in the mountain passes of Pakistan.
Elements
of the media speculate that Al Qaeda leader Bin Laden is in Pakistan's
tribal areas. Islamabad's military dictator denies this. Clearly the
focus on eliminating Al Qaeda has shifted largely to Pakistan.
Omar's
grieving family has not blamed the state apparatus. Yet, Omar's death
takes place against a global security environment.
Omar's
ministry oversaw vast NGO funds in the lead up to the local elections
held last August. NGOs are controversial these days. Some suspected
as front organisations for militant groups were banned following the
attacks of September 11. US President also banned some Trusts established
ostensibly for charitable purposes. Omar's ministry also oversaw large
amounts of state controlled pension funds. Omar resigned from the
Musharraf cabinet shortly after the pension embezzlement of over one
hundred million dollars was discovered.
Omar
is not blamed for the embezzlement. However, many believe he knew
too much. Omar's is the second "suicide" in six months tied
to the missing Old Age Benefits Investment (EOBI) funds. The accountant
handling the transfer of funds from the EOBI to a Bank account from
where they disappeared also died in a "suicide".
The embezzlement
was accidentally discovered by an honest officer investigating the
collapse of the Prudential Bank. To his horror, the investigating
officer, expecting reward, was persecuted. He wrote the National Accountability
Chairman (NAB) on August 3, 2001 complaining of the persecution. No
action was taken on his letter or his 114 page report.
Thereafter,
the NAB Chairman was removed from his post and silenced with an appointment
as Governor of the country's largest province. Earlier he was found
to have handled counterfeit American dollars while posted in Washington.
It is too early to say whether the missing money is linked to the
security agencies, Al Qaeda, the military hardliners or to corrupt
criminal gangs operating in the country. Some published reports indicated
that the money hijacker Atta received was routed through Islamabad.
In
1993, the collapse of Mehran Bank led to the discovery that the security
agencies were illegally helping themselves to state funds. Omar's
father filed a petition before the Supreme Court demanding action.
Of those involved in the illegality one is currently Islamabad's Ambassador
to Saudi Arabia. Another oversees law and order in Punjab. He achieved
notoriety when Danny Pearl's suspected killer turned himself over
to him.
Meanwhile
in Paris an officer of yet another Pakistani bank was arrested by
French authorities and charged with money laundering. Other Pakistani
banks also collapsed, including Bankers Equity. The audits were done
quietly and little is known of the facts publicly. There are reports
that the military regime plans establishing a "Trust" overseas
with enormous amounts of funds to "keep it safe from corrupt
politicians". A person approached for help with the Trust was
told that the money would be from privatisation proceeds and be routed
through the State Bank of Pakistan. Further that the money would be
used for social security payments.
This
offer is suspicious. Privatisation proceeds cannot be hidden from
the World Bank or the Finance Ministry. Social Security is paid through
the relevant Ministry rather than secret overseas organisations. Therefore
it is probable that the source and purpose of the money is other than
being stated. This begs the question: whose funds are these, from
where are they being raised and transferred.
There
is much talk, too, over the two hundred and forty billion rupees reportedly
printed by Islamabad to bolster foreign exchange reserves. Officers
were reportedly sent with suitcases to buy dollars from the market
and take their commissions on it. The money translated into four and
half billion dollars.
But no
one knows where the two hundred and forty billion rupees went. It
still has to show up in the liquidity available in the country itself.
Pakistan's
Parliament was terminated when General Musharraf seized power in October
1999. Issues of financial impropriety cannot therefore be raised before
Parliament. Military dictator Musharraf promises to revive Parliament
following General Elections scheduled for this October. In the absence
of reforms to ensure transparent elections, scepticism remains. Cynics
say General Musharraf will handpick representatives to ensure a dummy
Parliament too weak to raise controversial issues.
For years
Pakistan's military establishment blamed Pakistani politicians for
corruption. The politicians counterclaimed that the charges are politically
motivated by militants and their sympathisers determined to maintain
their stranglehold on the state apparatus.
According
to the press, the honest investigator who discovered the missing pension
funds was also investigating another bank called the Muslim Commercial
Bank. Its owner now is attempting to buy the United Bank of Pakistan.
There is concern that Gulf investors bringing capital into Pakistan
are being disfavoured as the regime tilts towards monopoly creation
in the banking sector.
Omar
was a key witness in the case of the missing EOBI funds as was the
accountant who died. Omar knew who gave the order for him to transfer
the pension funds to the account from where they disappeared. Omar
took those secrets with him to the grave. - Courtesy 'The Nation',
Pakistan
