Guest Blog | By Ezzat Dawood-Zai | 14 January 2009
Hapless People of Pakistan: Where Do We Go?
Turn to
Introduction [1] | Affidavit Excerpt [2] | Conclusion [3]
Chief Justice of Pakistan
Corruption in the lower judiciary and at the highest levels of the state in Pakistan is well known. An affidavit filed recently by the main accused in a corruption scandal, however, provides shocking details of the structure of cosy relationships facilitating corruption among the respected members of the higher judiciary, the leaders of the legal fraternity (presently basking in the afterglow of moral righteousness following a successful campaign to restore the chief justice), attorneys-general, senators, and cabinet ministers of Pakistan.
Introduction
According to press reports (see page 2 below), following an investigation, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Punjab filed a reference in an accountability court in September 2008 against six officials of the Bank of Punjab (BoP) and six accomplices, accused of a fraud of Rs 9 billion (around US$150 million):
“The investigation showed that the accused Sheikh Muhammad Afzal, Director Harris Steel Industries (Pvt) Ltd with co-accused Muhammad Munir, Ali Ijaz, Abid Raza and Irfan Ali in connivance with bankers, BoP Ex-President Hamesh Khan, Haroon Aziz, Aziz ul Hameed, Muhammad Shoaib Qureshi, Ex-General Managers BoP Muhammad Adil Khan, Muhammad Nauman Arif and Muhammad Zia ul Haq, Ex-Managers BoP allegedly opened 23 fictitious accounts by their fake and forged national identity cards obtained loans of approximately Rs 9 billion from 2005 to 2007 with the help of fake documentation, bogus collaterals, fictitious guarantees and mortgage deals executed by fake persons…
… The reference further highlights that on March 24, 2008, accused Hamesh Khan, Aziz ul Hameed and Haroon Aziz through forged documentation and the connivance of accused Sheikh Afzal, Muhammad Munir, Ali Ijaz, Abid Raza and Irfan Ali rescheduled the entire liability of Rs 9 billion for 11 years to frustrate NAB proceedings, which were already underway since August 2007.”
Sheikh Afzal and his son, Harris Afzal, were arrested in Malaysia on November 16, 2009, while Hamesh Khan, is due to be extradited from the United States to Pakistan. While the full text of the sworn affidavit submitted by Sheikh Afzal to the Court is not available, press reports [The News, The Nation] provide sordid details of how he was swindled of collossal sums by a bevy of ‘honourable men’ in the judicial and legal establishment of Pakistan, in the name of securing him the ‘protection’ and ‘relief’ he was seeking from Lahore High Court and Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Put simply, when Harris Afzal turned to the top attorneys in Pakistan, they offered to act as intermediaries in bribing judges, rather than as professional lawyers who would construct the best legal defence available to him under law. In the process, if press reports on the substance of his affidavit (on page 2 of this post) are to be believed, between May and November 2009 Harris Afzal was scammed for the princely sum of Rs 192.5 million by men who would feature on any list of Who’s Who in Pakistan:
| May | Mr. Irfan Qadir, Advocate | Rs. 1,000,000 | |
| June | Mr. Sharifuddin Pirzada Mr. Wasim Sajjad Senator Babar Awan Mr. Ali Wasim Mr. Mohsin Naqvi Mr. Malik Qayyum |
Bribe for LHC judge Bribe for LHC judge Attorney General |
Rs. 10,000,000 Rs. 2,000,000 Rs. 5,000,000 Rs. 7,500,000 Rs. 3,500,000 Rs. 10,000,000 |
| July | Mr. Sharifuddin Pirzada | Rs. 5,000,000 | |
| August | Mr. Sharifuddin Pirzada Pirzada Advocates |
Bribe for A-G Khosa | Rs. 10,000,000 Rs. 1,500,000 |
| Jul-Sep | Mr. Malik Qayyum Mr. Malik Qayyum Senator Babar Awan Senator Babar Awan Senator Babar Awan |
Rs. 60,000,000 Rs. 6,000,000 Rs. 3,000,000 Rs. 5,000,000 Rs. 35,000,000 |
|
| Oct-Nov | Sarfaraz Merchant Sarfaraz Merchant Sarfaraz Merchant |
Bribe for SC judge Bribe for SC judge Expenses |
Rs. 6,500,000 Rs. 20,000,000 Rs. 1,500,000 |
The amounts given above, reconstructed from news reports may suffer from some overlap, and some accounts that were refunded are not reported, but they give an idea of the scale of the scam.
The details of the scam (Affidavit Excerpt, on the next page) are even more interesting.
Turn to
Introduction [1] | Affidavit Excerpt [2] | Conclusion [3]
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