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Sweet economic-political deal
Gulmina Bilal
It is said that a nation gets the leaders it deserves. This October as I cast my eye over the political landscape, these words haunt me. October is significant this year. Not only does it mark eight years of President Musharrafs rule (while wearing different hats such as the chief executive, army chief, referendum president and now president yet again), but also marks the return of Benazir Bhutto. However, this is not all. This October also marks national reconciliation in the country.
Lest citizens confuse national reconciliation with overtures towards improving relationship amongst the federating units, including the situation in Balochistan, interior Sindh, NWFP, I should warn that national reconciliation is not geared towards that. Instead, national reconciliation is being termed as a means of letting Benazir return to the country after a deal has been negotiated between Musharraf and BB. Political analysts are calling this deal a political I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine deal, but how financially sweet this deal is for Mohtarma is mind-boggling. According to a news report, Benazir and her spouse would actually be getting more money (legal money) from the national exchequer.
Readers would recall that the couples assets were frozen in 1997. These assets according to conservative estimates amount to $ 1.4 billion. These include sugar mills, textile mills, chemical industries and valuable agriculture and other commercial properties. Asif Zardaris frozen foreign assets include 355 acres of Rockwood Estate (Surrey Palace), apartments in the posh Queens Gate Terrace and Hammersmith of London, four shops in Brussels and two apartments in Brussels. The infamous Surrey Palace has now been sold to a billionaire based in Qatar at six times higher rates than its original price. Zardaris assets in the US include the Texas Stud Farm and properties in Wellington Club East and West Palm Beach. The 25 bank accounts of Zardari, which were ordered to be frozen (and now unfrozen) include accounts in Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), Citibank Private Limited and Citibank, Dubai.
The confiscated properties also include 150 acres of land in Sanghar, Nawabshah and Hyderabad, besides Sikandar Sugar Mills, Ansari Sugar Mills, Mirza Sugar Mills, Panjero Sugar Mills, Bachani Sugar Mills, eight acres of land at Hawksbay and one acre plots each in Clifton and Saddar, Karachi. Zardaris assets and bank accounts that were frozen included his shares in 25 offshore companies, i.e. Bomer Finance, Mariston Securities, Nasam Alexander located in the British Virgin Islands, Florida, Isle of Man and Isle of Jersey.
What is significant from the citizens perspective is that not only will the couples corrupt assets be returned to them, but you and I may have to pay a maximum of $ 1.4 billion to the couple as accumulated interest for the years their assets were frozen. According to the news report, Benazir can potentially claim the mark-up against her frozen assets, which would be at least $ 9.6 million at the interest rate of 0.6 percent. In other words, not only do they get away with corruption, but they get to make money off the ill-gotten wealth. I use the word corruption and ill-gotten wealth consciously since now there is no doubt in anyones mind about this.
The French, Polish, Spanish and Swiss governments have provided documentary evidence to the Pakistan government of the corruption that the couple had done in deals pertaining to their respective countries. For instance, the French authorities indicated in 1998 that Zardari offered exclusive rights to Dassault, a French aircraft manufacturer, to replace the air forces fighter jets in exchange for a five percent commission to be paid to a corporation in Switzerland controlled by Zardari. The Swiss government handed over documents on money laundering to the Pakistan government, which related to corruption allegations against Benazir and Zardari in 1998.
The Polish government has also given Pakistan a 500-page document relating to corruption allegations against Benazir and her husband in the purchase of 8,000 tractors in 1997. The Polish government had complained about receiving heavy kickbacks by the ruling couple. Benazir launched the Awami Tractor Scheme for the welfare of poor farmers and allegedly received 7.15 percent commission in the purchase of tractors through their front men Jens Schlegelmilch and Didier Plantin of Dargal SA who received about $ 1.969 million for supplying 5,900 Ursus tractors.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reports reveal that Benazir had transferred £ 50,000 in October 1994, which was sent directly from the numbered account at UBS into Zardaris own personal account at Barclays Bank, Knightsbridge. However, BB always rejected corruption charges levelled on the basis of fake documents.
The Auditor-General of Pakistan (AGP) report revealed that former President Ghulam Ishaq Khan had given Rs 28 million to legal advisers for filing 19 corruption cases against the couple in 1990-92. In the first quarter of the last year, NAB claimed that the bureau had found two Sharjah-based offshore companies owned by Benazir and her family, indicating that she had stashed corruption money in Spain. The Spanish authorities initiated criminal proceedings against BB and her associates under the money laundering laws and froze the companies assets, four bank accounts and a villa in Valencia.
Writing for a web-based newspaper, the Huffington Post in an article titled, Why Im returning to Pakistan? Benazir declares, The most dangerous manifestation of this retreat from democracy has been a growing sense of hopelessness of the people of Pakistan, and a total disillusionment with the political systems ability to address their daily problems. In an era of such sweet deals, is it any wonder that the Pakistani nation is totally disilluioned? Even the party members of the PPP question this.
According to media sources, a senior PPP leader disclosed that unfortunately Benazir had always struck deal in politics against the basic philosophy of Bhutto who believed in resistance and struggle. Benazir struck a deal with General Ziaul Haq when she left the country in 1984, which was negotiated by her friends and important dignitaries of the US administration. Similarly, her return in 1986 and subsequent assumption of power in 1988 were the result of deals with the military establishment struck under the auspices of US imperialism. The leader declared that Benazir had distanced the PPP from its founding socialist principles with every deal and tried to present herself as a stateswoman more capable of diverting the mass movements and protecting the interests of imperialism than others.
There are a number of questions in the heads of the citizens of Pakistan, but then who is listening to them? As Mohtarma herself declares while explaining the deal, I was not negotiating for a guaranteed outcome, I was negotiating for a guaranteed process. The guaranteed process perhaps was the further disillusionement of the Pakistani citizens.
The writer is an electoral reforms and gender mainstreaming consultant based in Islamabad
Gulmina Bilal
It is said that a nation gets the leaders it deserves. This October as I cast my eye over the political landscape, these words haunt me. October is significant this year. Not only does it mark eight years of President Musharrafs rule (while wearing different hats such as the chief executive, army chief, referendum president and now president yet again), but also marks the return of Benazir Bhutto. However, this is not all. This October also marks national reconciliation in the country.
Lest citizens confuse national reconciliation with overtures towards improving relationship amongst the federating units, including the situation in Balochistan, interior Sindh, NWFP, I should warn that national reconciliation is not geared towards that. Instead, national reconciliation is being termed as a means of letting Benazir return to the country after a deal has been negotiated between Musharraf and BB. Political analysts are calling this deal a political I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine deal, but how financially sweet this deal is for Mohtarma is mind-boggling. According to a news report, Benazir and her spouse would actually be getting more money (legal money) from the national exchequer.
Readers would recall that the couples assets were frozen in 1997. These assets according to conservative estimates amount to $ 1.4 billion. These include sugar mills, textile mills, chemical industries and valuable agriculture and other commercial properties. Asif Zardaris frozen foreign assets include 355 acres of Rockwood Estate (Surrey Palace), apartments in the posh Queens Gate Terrace and Hammersmith of London, four shops in Brussels and two apartments in Brussels. The infamous Surrey Palace has now been sold to a billionaire based in Qatar at six times higher rates than its original price. Zardaris assets in the US include the Texas Stud Farm and properties in Wellington Club East and West Palm Beach. The 25 bank accounts of Zardari, which were ordered to be frozen (and now unfrozen) include accounts in Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), Citibank Private Limited and Citibank, Dubai.
The confiscated properties also include 150 acres of land in Sanghar, Nawabshah and Hyderabad, besides Sikandar Sugar Mills, Ansari Sugar Mills, Mirza Sugar Mills, Panjero Sugar Mills, Bachani Sugar Mills, eight acres of land at Hawksbay and one acre plots each in Clifton and Saddar, Karachi. Zardaris assets and bank accounts that were frozen included his shares in 25 offshore companies, i.e. Bomer Finance, Mariston Securities, Nasam Alexander located in the British Virgin Islands, Florida, Isle of Man and Isle of Jersey.
What is significant from the citizens perspective is that not only will the couples corrupt assets be returned to them, but you and I may have to pay a maximum of $ 1.4 billion to the couple as accumulated interest for the years their assets were frozen. According to the news report, Benazir can potentially claim the mark-up against her frozen assets, which would be at least $ 9.6 million at the interest rate of 0.6 percent. In other words, not only do they get away with corruption, but they get to make money off the ill-gotten wealth. I use the word corruption and ill-gotten wealth consciously since now there is no doubt in anyones mind about this.
The French, Polish, Spanish and Swiss governments have provided documentary evidence to the Pakistan government of the corruption that the couple had done in deals pertaining to their respective countries. For instance, the French authorities indicated in 1998 that Zardari offered exclusive rights to Dassault, a French aircraft manufacturer, to replace the air forces fighter jets in exchange for a five percent commission to be paid to a corporation in Switzerland controlled by Zardari. The Swiss government handed over documents on money laundering to the Pakistan government, which related to corruption allegations against Benazir and Zardari in 1998.
The Polish government has also given Pakistan a 500-page document relating to corruption allegations against Benazir and her husband in the purchase of 8,000 tractors in 1997. The Polish government had complained about receiving heavy kickbacks by the ruling couple. Benazir launched the Awami Tractor Scheme for the welfare of poor farmers and allegedly received 7.15 percent commission in the purchase of tractors through their front men Jens Schlegelmilch and Didier Plantin of Dargal SA who received about $ 1.969 million for supplying 5,900 Ursus tractors.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reports reveal that Benazir had transferred £ 50,000 in October 1994, which was sent directly from the numbered account at UBS into Zardaris own personal account at Barclays Bank, Knightsbridge. However, BB always rejected corruption charges levelled on the basis of fake documents.
The Auditor-General of Pakistan (AGP) report revealed that former President Ghulam Ishaq Khan had given Rs 28 million to legal advisers for filing 19 corruption cases against the couple in 1990-92. In the first quarter of the last year, NAB claimed that the bureau had found two Sharjah-based offshore companies owned by Benazir and her family, indicating that she had stashed corruption money in Spain. The Spanish authorities initiated criminal proceedings against BB and her associates under the money laundering laws and froze the companies assets, four bank accounts and a villa in Valencia.
Writing for a web-based newspaper, the Huffington Post in an article titled, Why Im returning to Pakistan? Benazir declares, The most dangerous manifestation of this retreat from democracy has been a growing sense of hopelessness of the people of Pakistan, and a total disillusionment with the political systems ability to address their daily problems. In an era of such sweet deals, is it any wonder that the Pakistani nation is totally disilluioned? Even the party members of the PPP question this.
According to media sources, a senior PPP leader disclosed that unfortunately Benazir had always struck deal in politics against the basic philosophy of Bhutto who believed in resistance and struggle. Benazir struck a deal with General Ziaul Haq when she left the country in 1984, which was negotiated by her friends and important dignitaries of the US administration. Similarly, her return in 1986 and subsequent assumption of power in 1988 were the result of deals with the military establishment struck under the auspices of US imperialism. The leader declared that Benazir had distanced the PPP from its founding socialist principles with every deal and tried to present herself as a stateswoman more capable of diverting the mass movements and protecting the interests of imperialism than others.
There are a number of questions in the heads of the citizens of Pakistan, but then who is listening to them? As Mohtarma herself declares while explaining the deal, I was not negotiating for a guaranteed outcome, I was negotiating for a guaranteed process. The guaranteed process perhaps was the further disillusionement of the Pakistani citizens.
The writer is an electoral reforms and gender mainstreaming consultant based in Islamabad
