LAHORE: According to the International Centre for Asset Recovery of the Basel Institute on Governance in Switzerland, which assists developing countries in making use of international legal assistance to recover their stolen assets, President Asif Zardari and his late spouse Benazir Bhutto were allegedly involved in looting $1.5 billion from the national coffers.
This Switzerland-based institute, which claims to act as facilitator, coach and legal representative in international asset recovery cases and supports countries in implementing the provisions of Chapter V on asset recovery of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, has revealed that only $100 million of the $1.5 billion plundered by the sitting Pakistani president and his late premier wife has so far been traced.
It further writes on its website: “During Bhutto’s terms as Prime Minister, Zardari is alleged to have masterminded various corruption related activities involving millions of dollars with Bhutto’s knowledge. Zardari gained the reputation of demanding a certain percent of government contracts issued to business people, thereby earning a succession of nicknames: Mr 5 Percent, Mr 10 Percent, Mr 20 Percent, Mr 30 Percent, and Mr 100 Percent. In total, Bhutto-Zardari accumulated assets worth over $100 million in the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, the United States of America and the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Some estimates place Bhutto-Zardari loot at more than $1.5 billion.”
The Swiss institute further writes: “This sum allegedly came from illicit profits through kickbacks in every sphere of government activity, including: rice export deals, the sell-off of state land, purchase of planes for Pakistan International Airlines, sugar mills, oil and gas permits, awarding of broadcast licenses, privatisation of state-owned industries and rake-offs from state welfare schemes.”
Giving introduction of Asif Zardari and Benazir, this is how the Basel Institute of Governance describes the eminent Pakistani couple: “A consummate politician, Benazir Bhutto was twice appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988-1990 and 1993-1996). On both occasions she was dismissed from office for alleged corruption and misrule or bad governance. Between 1998 and 2007 Bhutto lived in exile from Pakistan in Dubai and London.
She returned to Pakistan in October 2007 after reaching an understanding with President Pervez Musharraf by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn. However, Benazir Bhutto political life was ended with her assassinated on December 27, 2007. Her husband Asif Ali Zardari (now the current President of Pakistan) also played a prominent role in both administrations. He served as Minister of Investment from 1993 to 1996.”
The institute had cited references of John F. Burns 1998 article “House of graft: tracing the Bhutto millions — a special report; Bhutto clan leaves trail of corruption” that had appeared in the New York Times and also made use of material in BBC’s obituary story on Benazir Bhutto and Raymond W Baker’s 2005 book “Capitalism’s Achilles Heel: Dirty money and how to renew the free-market system.”
It is pertinent to note that the key partners of the International Centre for Asset Recovery of the Basel Institute on Governance in Switzerland include the International Monetary Fund, the International Ant-Corruption Academy, the Council of Europe, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland, Transparency International, For the sake of knowledge, the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative of the World Bank and United Nations, The United Kingdom Department for International Development, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, Swiss National Science Foundation and the University of Basel (Switzerland) etc.
The Basel Institute of Governance website also carries an interesting introductory paragraph about one of the books “Non-state actors in assets recovery” that has been published under its auspices.
The paragraph, which is bound to raise many an eye-brow, read: “Non-state actors are of fundamental importance in the prevention and combating of corruption within asset recovery processes. Their roles and responsibilities were considered during an experts’ meeting hosted by the Basel Institute in September 2010.”
This book contains essays presented at the meeting, written by practitioners and academics with extensive experiences in the numerous fields, which comprise asset recovery processes. The contributions offer a diversity of views on roles, which non-state actors can play in preventing and combating corruption and other forms of financial crimes.
This Swiss institute under review says it is compiling case studies on small and large precedent-setting recovery proceedings, which would soon be made available on its website with convenient links to relevant judicial, legislative and executive documents.
It has also invited ‘affected states” to submit information on ongoing and past recovery cases for inclusion under country specific headings.
The institute maintains on its website: “As the amount of case information in this section grows, the Centre will index and cross-reference the volume of material by key features such as jurisdiction, criminal or civil, freeze orders, etc.”
However, a lot of details about two dozen corrupt global rulers and key government functionaries are already available with facts pertaining to the efforts being made by the ruling regimes of the robbed countries to ensure the repatriation of their stolen assets, many of which are still stashed in off-shore havens like Switzerland.
The corrupt international rulers/government officials discussed on the website of the Basel Institute of Governance are: Hosni Mubarak (recently deposed Egyptian dictator), Ferdinand Marcos (former rulers of Philippines), Jacob Zuma (President of South Africa), Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier (defamed ruler of Haiti), Pavel Ivanovich Lazarenko (former Prime Minister of Ukraine), Daniel arap Moi (Kenyan dictator), Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (a Nigerian Governor), Frederick Chiluba (former Zambian President), Tommy Suharto (son of former Indonesian ruler Suharto), Shri Sukh Ram (former Indian Union State Minister for Communications), Omar Bongo (former President of Gabon), Arafat Rahman Koko (son of former Bangladeshi Premier Khalida Zia), Raul Salinas (brother of the former President of Mexico), Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (former Tunisian dictator), Joshua Chibi Dariye (a former Nigerian Governor), General Sani Abacha (former Nigerian dictator) and Vladimiro Lenin Montesinos (ex-head of Peru’s secret service under President Alberto Fujimori) etc.
