The case of the Panama Papers

This barely scrapes our morality

Millions of documents leaked from a Panama law firm, now known as the Panama Papers have diverted the attention of our opposition parties and the media away from hoards of other significant issues confronted by the nation. The revelations of vast wealth hidden by our politicians, business people and government servants (among thousands of others over four continents) have provided them some lethal ammunition to fire. Ignoring the other couple of hundred odd mentioned in the papers, all guns have been blazing exclusively towards the Prime Minister.

It has been common knowledge that shell companies in several offshore island tax shelters existed to hide money in secretive accounts used by wealthy people. These entities are legitimized by European governments in order to attract money to be invested in their countries at the expense of the countries where it is generated. Although the sources of funds are expected to be earned legally, ill-gotten money from corruption, drugs and numerous other illicit activities also finds its way to these accounts with authorities looking the other way.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family have rebuffed the charges of wrongdoing. His two sons are adults, overseas Pakistanis settled in Saudi Arabia and the UK, conducting their businesses according to law of the land. It is not possible to deny the Panama papers, as they are not forgeries but accurate records. The Sharif children have also accepted the ownership of the named companies and other investments abroad.

It should have been a wake-up call for our political and financial leaders to unite, clean and bring sweeping reforms to correct our dysfunctional systems that allow flight of capital out of the country and to introduce effective legislation to prevent its reoccurrence. Instead, a political witch hunt has commenced to weaken the government, accentuated by the usual media circus of meaningless, speculative and negative armchair sensational debates, adversely impregnating the public minds.

Right on cue, Imran Khan the incorrigible agitator and the lone ranger transformed into the belligerent mode and demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister. Most political parties declined to endorse his call or to join his proposed march towards the private residence of the Sharifs near Raiwind and to stage a dharna. Fortunately, sane voices have emerged since then, proposing an across the board, even handed and comprehensive investigation of all involved. The scope should be enlarged to critically appraise the entire financial system and plug all loopholes. In addition, heavy financial penalties should be suggested on these account holders and action taken to get the funds repatriated to Pakistan.

The leaks are in fact documents hacked (stolen or taken) from the computer records of the law firm Mossack Fonseca by a mystery source and laboriously compiled over many months by an army of over 400 investigative journalists hired from several countries by the non-profit International Consortium of Investigative Journalists ICIJ. The motive of the entire operation, which must have cost a small fortune and must be backed by some influential people (agencies or countries) is still not clear, as the leaks do not suggest anything illegal. It could also be a tip of the iceberg. Many more disclosures may follow from several other tax haven islands. This system of international financial transactions will never be the same again and will certainly be subjected to radical reforms and monitoring at a global level. Pakistan is just a small cog entangled in a larger design that has already thrown it in a political and economic chaos.

Wikileaks and the revelation of illegal surveillance by NASA, both of which exposed the American shortcomings, did no damage to any person or state. The original whistle blower Julian Assange was internationally hounded and forced to hide somewhere in Russia. The intelligence contractor Edward Snowden is still entrapped in refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The target of Panama papers appears to be certain specific people in a few countries. Curiously, no one has protested about the legality of this cyber crime nor has ISIJ been condemned or its ethics questioned for making public countless confidential legal documents acquired by illegal means that have defamed many. We must also study why, in the very first installment, Pakistan is included along with a few other countries, all of which are renewing or developing economic ties with China and Russia (including Britain with a growing commercial tilt towards China and away from the U.S).

The Panama papers have presented a financial and legal dilemma and barely scrape our morality. It will be unrealistic for us to draw parallels or to equate our reaction with advanced nations with established systems. They guarantee basic amenities of life and their population is trained to observe and respect rule of law and has developed a certain degree of ethics and values. Sadly, our nation is disorderly, high on the world corruption and poverty indices and low on literacy and social welfare. Our parallel (black) economy, fueled by illegitimate money, has grown so large that it has dwarfed our documented economy. A small coterie of elite and their successors have ruled us over the years. They (and the business sector alike) keep amassing personal assets incompatible with their declared incomes and life styles by stealing from the government, evading any form of taxation and wheeling and dealing. Government servants are partners in their crimes. The greed has filtered down to the lowest level of the common citizen. No major leader or political party has ever come out in streets to educate and to mobilize the public to combat these evils that have plagued our society forever. So, please save us from lessons on morality.

Perhaps the Panama papers also would have passed unnoticed buried in the back pages, had it not been the mention of the Prime Minister’s two sons owning properties under the title of off-shore companies. Some political activists have grabbed this opportunity to create political upheaval and derail the system in a power struggle. Their single agenda is to bring down the Prime Minister even though no incriminating and prosecutable evidence is produced. Our public should not be confused or fooled that this campaign is for the love of the people or of democracy.

PTI had failed in its first attempt to dissolve the assemblies and to throw out the elected prime minister. More than a year of street agitation and the siege of Islamabad for nearly four months halted the economic progress and created doubts about the democratic credentials of our people. As the nation has advanced sluggishly to recover a degree of stability, the repetition of its misdirected aggression threatens to send our economy and governance back to square one once again. Perhaps Imran Khan is already convinced the prime ministership is within his grasp, as (inadvertently!) reflected in his demand for PTV to air his “address to the nation” (a prerogative of prime minister and president).

A case is being argued both for and against the prime minister to resign on moral grounds. His name is not directly implicated but his children are the beneficiaries of the offshore companies. Russia and China have dismissed the leaks as an effort to damage their regimes. The other eleven heads of state named in the Panama papers including the British prime minster and Argentine president are defending their positions. Only the Prime Minister of Iceland (population 330,000) has resigned so far. Our prime minister also has the right to defend his position. He is innocent until proven guilty.

PML-N holds an elected parliamentary majority and a mandate to govern till 2018. It should be up to the party to decide if the leaks warrant a change in its leadership. At the same time, opposition political parties are also within their right to exert political pressure. But they will be doing no service to the nation if they disrupt normalcy by street agitation.