Way back in September, 2016 when the
Panama scandal became public and a number of news reports appeared in the
press, I wrote a blog titled “Immaculate Enrichment.” In it I had suggested
that the money with which Nawaz Sharif had acquired the London properties may
have come from Pakistani state coffers, but in view of caution I refrained from
speculating on how this could have happened. As the public discussion unfolded
it was stated that GIK, Benazir and Gen. Musharraf had all carried out thorough
investigations but had failed to unearth any evidence of corrupt practices by
him. When his friends asked him about his extraordinary fortunes, he just
laughed it out saying he had got lucky.
Moreover, when his trial for assets
beyond means started, he stone-walled completely and did not offer any
documents or records of transactions relating to the properties. According to
NAB laws inability to justify assets by a public office holder is by itself a
crime and he was sentenced to 7 years in prison. Soon afterwards his
brilliantly wily daughter Maryam managed to arouse a sleezy scandal about the
judge who had sentenced him with the help of obviously doctored audio and video
recordings hoping to get his sentence set aside. It has not happened yet. But
having seen the true horrible face of the man who failed a record three times
as prime minister, it seems that the money trail he has been hiding for so many
years must be unearthed.
It all started in the seventies of
the last century when Pakistan embarked upon the quest for an atomic bomb and
the Kahuta uranium enrichment project was initiated. As soon as news about the
construction of a gas centrifuges to enrich uranium reached the western
intelligence agencies, a wide-ranging ban on export of equipment and material
useful in the project was imposed. The problem was circumvented by setting up
dummy trading offices in various countries and anonymous offshore bank
accounts. Equipment, instruments and materials were sourced from different
countries, paid for honestly from the clandestine accounts and routed through
various countries avoiding the ban. This procurement arrangement later became
known as the A.Q. Khan network. Nothing unusual as the technique is used by
sensitive agencies of many countries.
When Nawaz Sharif became prime
minister, he became the custodian of a huge secret fund in foreign currency
from which he would order transactions on request from the managers of Kahuta.
Since there was no audit of the secret fund and the transaction orders were
coded there was nothing stopping him from opening his own offshore accounts and
transferring money to them without being caught. Probably, the same money was
used in 1993 and later to buy properties abroad. He may have repeated the
exercise when he became prime minister a second time and perhaps even the
third. Nawaz visited the Virgin Islands at least once, probably more, when he
was prime minister. He was also smart enough to close the accounts with Mossack
Fonseca of Panama in 2014 and have the companies delisted in 2015.
This explains why he constantly
refused to justify the ownership of those properties by any tangible documents.
Any of those could have pointed to a clue to the money trail which would have
led to the secret state coffers.
If the records have not been
destroyed already, it should be possible to trace the money trail of Nawaz
Sharif’s overseas properties. Moreover, since the PPP leadership that followed
in the footsteps of PML(N) was quick to learn from its predecessors, some of
Asif Zardari’s overseas properties may also by traced in the process.
Let us see how much money can be recovered in
this way.
Emailed to PM Office – no acknowledgement
or response
Emailed to Chairman NAB – bounced 3
times, abandoned
