The Supreme Court of Pakistan is taking up a yet another petition today (Monday) with the potential to change the fate of the country. After rising from the ashes in 2007, the superior judiciary of Pakistan has become a ray of hope for each and every citizen including politicians, bureaucrats and even those who walk the corridors of power.
Due to the apparent failure of the executive branch of the government, the politicians, bureaucrats and even incumbent federal ministers are approaching the apex court not only for their personal grievances, but to save and secure the country from the worst element of corruption.
The Supreme Court, which is already seized with dozens of cases involving huge corruption and big names of the country, is taking up today (Monday) yet another plea filed by a former federal minister, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani, seeking identification and recovery of black money hidden by Pakistani nationals in the numbered/secret accounts in offshore banks of the western countries, including Switzerland, Spain, UK and USA.
Durrani filed the petition under Article 184(3) of the constitution through senior lawyer Justice (r) Mian Allah Nawaz making respondents the government of Pakistan, United Nations, Swiss Bankers Association, Stolen Assets Recovery (StAR) Initiative Secretariat Washington DC, Global Financial Integrity Washington DC, Transparency International Pakistan, Transparency International Secretariat Germany, the ambassadors of Switzerland, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, South Korea, Malaysia and the UAE, Election Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), PML-Nawaz, PML-Q, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The petitioner has requested the court to send letters of request for recovery of looted money to the United Nations through its Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Swiss Bankers Association, Switzerland and other countries for identification of such corrupt Pakistani nationals who have hidden their black money in the banks of these countries.
The petitioner has requested the court to initiate the process for recovery of money plundered by “elitist leaders of political parties”, senior members of bureaucracy, retired senior officers of the armed forces and retired judges of superior judiciary in Pakistan and leading members of business elites who had/have stashed money, so plundered, in safe havens of secret banking sectors within the territories of Switzerland, USA, Canada, UK Germany, France, Spain, South Korea, Malaysia, UAE and other developed countries.
He requested the court to ask the United Nations’ secretary general, government of Pakistan, Swiss Bankers Association, and governments of western states to recover the looted national wealth under the legislation made by the United Nations under the StAR Initiative under which the US and other governments had also recovered their stolen wealth during the past few years.
“That the investigative unit of the StAR be asked to make thorough investigations in the matter of black money laundered from the soil of Pakistan and stashed in the banks of safe haven countries and make arrangements for restitution of so quantified looted money from Pakistan and stashed in the coffers of the afore-stated countries,” the petitioner stated.
He said these countries should be asked to find the money so laundered and so kept in their respective banks and devise strategies for its restitution to the government of Pakistan. He requested the court to ask, through letter of request, the ambassadors of these countries to activate anti-corruption agencies in their countries in accordance with the principles of fairness, decency and humanity incorporated in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and the StAR Initiative and submit reports to the court with respect to the real estate properties purchased by politicians, retired members of bureaucracy, retired members of armed forces of Pakistan on the soil of their countries so as to uphold the flag of rule of law, humanity and decency.
He also requested the court to tell the Election Commission of Pakistan secretary to collect data regarding the assets declared by the parliamentarians and submit its report as to whether these assets had been made through legal or illegal means. Furthermore, he added, the secretary should be told to ask the parliamentarians to furnish the details of assets held by them in safe haven countries.
He asked the court to tell the leaders of all political parties of the country to furnish lists of cash and assets held by them in bank accounts as well as real estate purchased by its members and office-bearers outside Pakistan in the aforesaid countries. The petitioner sought the constitution of a “Commission of Truth” comprising retired judges of the superior judiciary and retired members of civil services whose integrity has been beyond any doubt, with a direction to undertake investigation into the assets of politicians, retired members of the bureaucracy, retired members of the armed forces, businessmen and judges in and outside Pakistan so that a system of transparency, accountability and necessary legal infrastructure can be designed to seek restitution of the money laundered from the soil of Pakistan and deposited in the safe haven countries.
The petition also sought a direction by the court to the government of Pakistan to enter into agreement/laws of mutual assistance to unearth and quantify money laundered from Pakistan and deposited in the safe heaven countries. “It is repeated that the expression of ‘safe heaven countries’ means ‘Switzerland, USA, UK, Germany, France, Canada, Spain, South Korea, Malaysia and UAE’,” the petitioner stated.
He requested the court that any other legal strategy, which the court deems fit be devised, to save Pakistan from financial bankruptcy and save it from the clutches of international financial lending institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank and others. “Since 1954, the elitist ruling classes, belonging to political parties, bureaucracy, superior judiciary and senior members of armed forces had been/have been plundering the resources of our country and have devised strategies to deposit such looted moneys in the ‘safe haven countries’ for a simple reason that the afore-noted countries had mathematically and meticulously devised banking systems with such secretiveness that nobody could have an inkling about the deposits of that looted money,” the petitioner stated.
For a long time, he said, the leaders of such countries had also developed a system of offshore banking, which legally encouraged flight of capital from poor countries to developed countries, adding that this flight of money had so deleteriously damaged financial conditions of our country that even thoughtless scholars had started saying that Pakistan was not a sustainable country. He said it was unfortunate to note that neither the legislative nor the executive and members of civil society had collectively risen to stop the exodus of resources from Pakistan to the ‘safe heaven countries’. “The initiative of this process will positively arrest our crumbling economy and restore financial sovereignty of the nation,” the petitioner stated.
