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Finally, the Swiss Connection

In Sept 15, 1997 the Ehtesab Cell in the PM’s Secretariat announced that the Swiss Government had agreed to the freezing of accounts in the names of Ms Benazir Bhutto, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Mr Asif Ali Zardari on the basis of credible evidence about transfer of ill-gotten wealth. Their accounts, vaults and lockers were in the Union Bank of Switzerland, the Barclays Bank, Citi Bank S.A. and the Contrade Ormond Burrus Banque Privee SA. Senator Saifur Rahman, Chairman of the Cell, who was flanked by the Federal Law Minister Khalid Anwar, disclosed that the seizure order, effective from Sept 8, 1997 was conveyed to the Cell by the Federal Office for Police Matters (FOP), Berne. The Swiss have given Government of Pakistan (GoP) three months until Dec 7 to come up with more evidence. With this seizure, the Bhutto/Zardari duo take their rightful place in the history of the infamous and the corrupt, along with the likes of Marcoses, the Shah of Iran, Rajiv Gandhi and Mobutu, leaders who looted wealth from the countries and the people they professed to love. For the record, Ms Benazir has denied these allegations, her defence is ingenious, “who doesn’t have accounts abroad?” One may well ask, why not declare them then? And also where did all the money come from?

Obviously someone close to the Bhutto/Zardari clan has squealed. The obvious suspicion falls on Javed Pasha who benefited most from Zardari’s largesse and had intimate knowledge of his dealings or it could be Hamid Asghar Kidwai who had a bone to pick. Whoever has turned State’s evidence to spare his own neck is not important, the fact is that for the first time in the history of Pakistan illegally held assets abroad have been disclosed. Their existence in actual fact should mean automatic disqualification for the royal duo and the Queen Mother from Parliament and public life since these were not declared in their assets. The filing of assets being done under oath, it amounts to also committing perjury. Since CBR and SBP laws have also been broken, at the very minimum all their local assets should be confiscated. If indeed these foreign accounts are not really the property of the accused, then let them certify that its contents should be handed over to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). On the other hand, if the threesome want to contest the ownership then there is the question of where they got the undisclosed sum, ranging between US $ 65-80 million? There is also the problem of justifying as to why they needed six offshore foreign firms; among them Bomer Finance Inc, Mariston Securities Inc, Capricorn Trading SA, Cotechna Inspection SA, etc. The disclosure of details of all the transactions would allow private investigators to trace back the umbrella tree identifying all those “holier than thou” foreign firms doing business in Pakistan who benefited by the support of the royal duo and for which in return they received this illegal largesse. There would also be a catalogue of a number of Pakistanis who have been paying money to the royal couple for unspecified favours. More than the treasure trove available on the accounts, these links should provide clues to a number of mysterious transactions, some of these may have also bordered on the fail-safe line of national security. Persons who loot the country at will, normally have no qualms about selling the country’s secrets to the highest bidder. It is upto the Chairman of the Ehtesab Cell to commission private investigative companies without delay to trace out the origins of each transaction. It would also be very interesting to clear the air about the purported cheque of US $ 5 million given to the Government of Pakistan (GoP) in 1972 by the Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi, ostensibly to help Pakistan out in nuclear research. The cheque was supposedly in the name of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and he is supposed to have deposited it into his own personal account with Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in Geneva, purchasing (it is believed) about 10-12 tons of gold. Then there is the matter of the many boxes of Swat emeralds that disappeared without a trace from Pakistan in 1972, suppose they should turn up in some vaults?

As Kamran Khan has pertinently enquired in a recent article, who paid the bills from the Habib Bank AG Zurich Account against American Express Gold Card 3744 81976512004 owned by Asif Ali Zardari for the US $ 0.5 million spent on a three month shopping spree in London? For a man who, by his own estimation, was worth Rs 45,000 when he married the golden goose, that is indeed a miraculous “rags to riches” story, the question only is, how did Asif Ali Zardari manage this extraordinary feat without doing any business, in the conventional sense that is?

For the PPP die-hard, who have come up with the very lame knee jerk reaction that “the allegations are baseless”, this is the first concrete evidence of enormous ill-gotten wealth stashed abroad by their beloved political leaders. The PPP faithful are patriotic Pakistanis and if the charges are correct, surely they cannot keep supporting crooked leaders? And if they do, they need to have their heads or accounts or both examined. Since the payment of a bribe is a major crime in western countries, why not enact a law that any foreign or local firm that has paid a bribe to any one capable of influencing decision-making must either declare the amount of bribe paid and pay a similar sum into the government treasury or get their entire assets within Pakistan confiscated other than their senior executives going to jail for a minimum period of 5 years? With the transactions coming open for public display, this should encourage corporate entities to come clean or face the consequences thereof. It should not be confined to Ms Bhutto, Asif Zardari etc alone, anyone afoul of this law of the land in stashing illegal wealth abroad should be targeted, if nothing it will act as a disincentive for individuals and entities to pay bribes.

Saif deserves our unfettered congratulations for the excellent work done in unearthing the three Bhutto-Zardari accounts, I disagree with him how he has handled the bureaucracy and businessmen, I think he overdid it and it could have been done more discreetly and finessed better. In this case he deserves the nation’s thanks as well as unreserved plaudits. The recovery of ill-gotten wealth stashed abroad can always be done, it just needed the will to do it and the courage. He has shown both, more power to him! Credit is also due to the IB Chief, Maj Gen Rafiullah Khan and others in the “search and secure” team, for their own sake and for the sake of more disclosures, it is better not to name them or to discuss the modus operandi.

In one area I agree with Ms Benazir, she is not the only one having a foreign account and/or illegal assets stashed abroad. We do need to go after others irrespective of party affiliation. Saif has now got to show that his work is not partisan, that in the interests of the country he will not be averse to going after anybody, however high the stature of person may be. Will Saif be upto this acid test of impartiality?

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