The Systematic Corruption, Irregularity & Kickback of Pakistan Military
The people of Pakistan know the corruption of Pakistani civil bureaucracy but they do not know enough about the huge corruption of Pakistani judiciary and Pakistani military. The public can never easily reach to find out the deepen corruption of both official departments.
The people of Pakistan only know so far that high ranking army generals have swallowed billions of dollars in kickbacks, in defence deals, corruption in international aids and in international funds. There are a few examples such as General Jahangir Karamat received millions of dollars in defence deals, such as General Musharraf whom foreign account is full with billions of dollars and such as General Kayani whose is now playing with billions too. But the people of Pakistan do not know much that this systematic military corruption comes from bottom to top, from low ranking officers like Majors to high ranking officers like generals.
Rtd Air Marshal Asghar Kahn lodged a petition in Lahore High Court against ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) where he mentioned the corruption of army generals but unfortunately that petition went in to dustbin. Its contents were so explosive that the Court was unable to touch it.
This was regarding an aspect of alleged moral character of Pakistan military. The petition was filed without any cogent proof or documents and most of the alleged charges were based on the ‘lungar gups' sprayed in the air by officers closed personnel might be out of jealousy only. The Lahore High Court was facing a legal and practical dilemma: ‘
how to handle the petition charge sheeting the Pakistan Armed forces and listing details of massive kickbacks and corruption by Generals, Air Marshals and Admirals'
The main charges mentioned in the petition included:
One hundred and eleven Army men got 400 plots in Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts at throwaway prices, paying Rs. 47.50 per kanal (Kanal is about 600 Sq Yards or 1/8th of an acre) as against the actual price of Rs.15,000 to Rs.20,000 (1US $=Rs. 56 then). Another 35,000 kanals were distributed among them as gifts.
- General Pervez Musharraf acquired a commercial plot worth Rs 20 million at DHA in Lahore for just Rs.100,000 (then 960 Pounds) payable in 20 years.
- As mentioned in the report of Director General Defence Services, a loss of Rs 5 billion was incurred due to such allotments.
- Six respondents got 400 kanals in Punjab while former NAB chairman Lt. Gen Mohammad Amjad was allotted a two-kanal plot on the Sarwar Road in Lahore Cant for just Rs. 800,000 - payable in instalments over 20 years. The market value of this plot was then Rs.20 million.
- Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak (retired) had received Rs.180 million as kickbacks in the purchase of 40 old Mirage fighters.
- Air Chief Marshal, Farooq Feroz Khan was suspected of receiving a five percent commission on the purchase of 40 F-7 planes worth $271 million.
- In 1996, the Army bought 1047 GS-90s jeeps, at a cost of $20,889 per unit. The market value of a jeep then was only $13,000. According to the then National Accountability Bureau (NAB) some senior Army officers made Rs. 510 million in the deal.
- The Army awarded a contract for the purchase of 1000 Hino trucks at $ 40,000 per unit while the local Gandhara Industries (Hino assembling company in Karachi Pakistan) had offered trucks of the same specification for $ 25,000 each truck. In a purchase of 3000 Land Rover jeeps in 1995, Army officials allegedly received around Rs.2 billion as kickbacks.
- The Army management at WAPDA raised the power tariff 13 times during the last three years besides purchasing electric meters at Rs. 1,050 per piece against the open market price of Rs.456, causing a loss of Rs 1.65 billion to the national exchequer.
- A former military regime sold the Pak-Saudi Fertilizers for Rs. 7 billion and earned Rs. 2 billion commission on the deal.
- In 1996, the Pakistan Navy spent Rs.13 million on installing air-conditioners at the Islamabad Golf Club without any justification.
The petition also contained a mention of some other major scams involving serving or ex members of the military junta which were as follows:
- Ex-Army Chief, Gen Jahangir Karamat took kickbacks of more than US $ 20 Million from a Ukrainian tank company for purchase of 300 Ukrainian tanks for Pakistan Army through a middleman named as Col Mahmood, a brother corps officer of Karamat. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent the present chief of the WAPDA Major General Zulfiqar, then serving in ISI, to Ukraine and Azerbaijan to investigate the scam. Gen Zulfiqar compiled a complete report of the transaction and the bribes given. But the Army tried to buy him out by rewarding him with the post of WAPDA Chairman and promoting him to the rank of a three star General. The then Army Chief, Gen Jahangir Karamat was forced to resign, based on the threat that if he did not, he would be charged for corruption.
- Many road contracts were given to a firm Hasnain Construction Company without any public tenders by an ex Railways and Communication Minister General Ashraf Qazi. The company, owned by a relative of Gen Musharraf's son, was also awarded the lease of a lucrative real estate in Lahore for construction of a Golf Course under frontman ship of Palm Country Golf Club, Singapore. The relative of Gen Musharraf admitted publicly that he was working for a commission to use his contacts and influence for the company.
- Prime commercial land developed in Defence Housing Authority Karachi was leased at dirt cheap rates to McDonalds (operated through Amin Lakhani) by the then Corps Commander, Karachi Lt. Gen Afzal Janjua.
- The Army's coercive organ NAB struck various under the table deals with various individuals accused of high profile economic crimes in addition to arm twisting NAB defaulters, into joining the present government. These include a former Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali and at least one fourth of all elected legislators. Where does the military virtue of a defence outfit stand in these circumstances?
The petition had described that Pakistani military virtue had died, trampled below the treacherous wheels of overpriced military trucks and aircraft and defective planes that crashed in our waters because of dubious maintenance.
‘
Men who had one green suit to wear', in the words of Gen Tajammul
, ‘became the tycoons of Pakistan'. It was the beginning of prosperity for few and the beginning of the end of military virtue of a previously frugal and clean military machine, the General maintained. People of Pakistan have no right to ask that:
- Where does building 90 acres of a welfare colony known as Creek City with the cheapest shack for Rs. 6 million fit in?
- Where does developing 62 acres of land in prime commercial real estate in Islamabad fit in?
- Is this the business of Navy that was miserably shut up in a mouse hole in Karachi Port in 1971 War?
- For whose welfare is the Navy undertaking a project 1500 kilometres away from the nearest sea?
- What began as an idealistic journey ends with the shady deals around creeks in Karachi which the Navy failed to defend in 1971.
And in this messy situation, the subservient Lahore High Court was asked to ignore the said petition or shelve it because under the Pakistan Army Act no court is empowered to take notice of any issue relating with army service or their officers and employees.
The question arises that why it happened so?
The army which was known to the world as first class professional warrior, which was an ideal for students in their youths, which was admired through slogans written and painted on the back panels of every ‘
Bedford'' truck in Pakistan, which was sung through immortal ‘
milli' melodious voices of top range singers, is being dragged in the Courts to reply the charges of massive corruption levelled against
some of their high ranking officers.
More certain innocent questions:
- Why the flag-bearers of NRO scenario are blind towards this aspect of institutionalised corruption in Pakistan.
- Why only politicians and bureaucrats should be punished under NAB ordinance and not the army officials and judges.
- Why the Parliament never thought of causing an amendment in the Army Act if the Generals cannot be investigated by NAB and cannot be tried in ordinary courts.
- Have any President of Pakistan, being Supreme Commander of forces, ever bothered to gather the statistics of inquiries or court Martials conducted in connection with corrupt army officers and their organizations.
- Have the Supreme Court of Pakistan ever thought of initiating a suo motoaction over any financial scam involving army generals.
- Have any Bar Association ever thought of moving a petition before the Supreme Court to bring corrupt army generals in the ambit of ‘equal citizenship' given in the Constitution of Pakistan.
- Have any prominent anchor of media like Kashif Abbassi, Hamid Mir, Mazhar Abbas and Talat Hussain ever tried to float an opinion inviting discussions and comments of intelligentsia over the issue that if politicians and bureaucrats are being dragged in the streets of public consent then the generals should also be treated at par.
On March 5, 2012 India blacklisted six armament firms for ten years for their alleged involvement in a 2009 weapons bribery scandal. In 1986, an arms scandal involving the Swedish firm Bofors led to the downfall of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. On March 9, 2008 the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested arms dealer Suresh Nanda, son of an ex naval chief, and his son Sanjeev Nanda on charges of receiving kickbacks in the controversial Barak missile deal.
We have different stories here. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has evidence of the involvement of at least 20 retried senior military officials including three former chiefs of army staff, two naval chiefs and an air force chief in the purchase of tanks, submarines, naval mine hunters, Mirage fighters and army jeeps. However, NAB is not prepared to even serve them with a questionnaire, let alone file a reference against them. As for serving army officers, NAB is barred from investigating corruption cases that relate to them.
- In 1994 Admiral Mansur-ul-Haq of Pakistan Navy was involved in the Agosta class submarine scandal as Chief of the Naval Staff. The project cost 826 million Euros to the national exchequer. Out of these 50 million Euros were paid as commission to various individuals in the Pakistan establishment. It is further said that Haq’s predecessor Admiral Saeed Khan was also a party in the selection of the vessel. Haq was also alleged to have been involved in a deal made through Pakistan National Shipping Corporation which caused a loss of $3 million to the national treasury. Despite cases against him, no serious effort was made to investigate and indict the accused. Haq presently lives in the United States and is a billionaire.
- Commodore Shahid, the former director of Naval Intelligence was convicted by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for his alleged role in the submarine corruption case. Commodore Shahid spent 12 weeks of this imprisonment at his posh residence in Islamabad. Only three months after the conviction, the then Chairman NAB Admiral Fasih Bukhari (retd) pardoned him. It is also noteworthy that before his pardon, the Navy never allowed the authorities to shift the convicted commodore from his house to a prison. It is said that he was just a pawn in a much larger game.
- In the Mirage purchase deal, ex-Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Arshad Choudhry had voiced his concern about rising corruption in the PAF. He even met with the then President Farooq Leghari and offered to prove kickbacks and commission in deals ranging from land deals in Karachi to Mirage purchases to the Mirage rebuild factory in Kamra. Arshad Choudhary was earlier dismissed from PAF.
- Amid charges of kickbacks worth US$20 million, distributed between the PAF command and the DG, DP, Rear Admiral Saeed Akhter left his job under unexplained circumstances and left for Europe where he settled permanently.
In August 1988, General Ziaul Haq witnessed the final trial run of American made Abraham tanks at the Army's tank trial site at Khairpur Tamewali near Bahawalpur while allegations of kickbacks, from senior army circles, were also rife. On the same day when he visited the trial site, Gen Ziaul Haq's plane, also carrying the top military brass crashed mysteriously not far from Khairpur Tamewali.
- While Gen Zia had favored the US built M1 Abrams for a whopping US$700 million purchase, his successor Gen Mirza Aslam Beg opted for the US $1 billion Al-Khalid manufacturing plant to build 2000 main battle tanks with Chinese cooperation. While Gen Beg's US$1 billion Al-Khalid plan was still operational, his successor Gen Asif Nawaz went full swing to conclude a US$ 450 million purchase for 320 T-72 tanks from Poland. Before the deal could be finalized, General Asif Nawaz died mysteriously.
General Asif Nawaz’ successor Gen Abdul Wahid Kakar's team of experts rejected the deal out rightly, citing the reasons that could form the basis for a NAB investigation. Gen Abdul Wahid Kakar then targeted the Al-Khalid program.
- In 1996, General Jehangir Karamat, successor to General Waheed, however, focused on the purchase of Russian tanks from Ukraine. He struck a US$550 million deal with Ukraine, which at that time did not even have a diplomatic presence in Pakistan for 320 T- 80 UD tanks. General Asif Nawaz had finalized plans to buy the same 320 tanks for $ 450 million. The deal finally cost US $ 650 million to the nation. A course mate of General Jahangir Karamat, Colonel (retd) Mahmood had played a key role in bringing the GHQ and the Ukrainian government close to a deal.
It is rumoured that during his last meeting with Gen Jehangir Karamat, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif indicated to the former COAS the outcome of his probe against the Ukrainian tank deal in case he refused to resign. Jahangir Karamat chose to resign rather than face the inquiry.
Although Pakistan builds Al-Khalid tanks, allegations of kickbacks in the Al-Khalid project had surfaced several times in the past. A number of former army chiefs had strong reservations about this expansive project that caused huge delays in the completion of the project.
- In 1995 army purchased 3700 Land Rover Jeeps carrying a price tag of about 180 crore rupees. If only we could investigate the price Bangladesh army paid for the same vehicle around the same time period that the GHQ finalized this deal the names of several brave soldiers would emerge who made millions out of this deal.
The main supplier of this vehicle to the army was a close relative of the then Lieutenant General, who was the main decision-maker in the purchase.
The above and countless other stories of corruption in the defence establishment of this country can be narrated. However, we have yet to recall a retired let alone serving general, caught, indicted and sent behind the bars for his involvement in a shady arms deal.
How many billions of our hard earned money went into the coffers of generals during the last 65 years of our existence is anybody’s guess.
According to Sharif Shuja in News weekly:
The Pakistani army controls 70 per cent of Pakistan's economy. According to reports, the defence budget for the next year is being increased from 131 billion to 150 billion rupees.
But the "buck" does not stop at what is allocated to defence in the annual budget. A system of "legalised corruption" devours a major share of the country's limited resources.
Army officers are allocated plots in affluent localities for throw-away prices, and their children get the best education for free. Their families receive excellent health services without paying a penny, in addition to furnished accommodations, domestic help and rations, all at no charge.
To ensure these luxuries, resources are often diverted from the social sector to the military through covert avenues. The reality is that the generals wish to remain unaccountable to other institutions and the public at large. Stories are legion of large-scale corruption within the military establishment; most organs of the military empire are running at a loss because of inefficiency.
Sharif Shuja further stated:
General Musharraf presides over a vast industrial, commercial and real estate empire, with assets and investments of at least US$5 billion. This military-commercial complex is based on a little-known network - originally created to promote the welfare of retired servicemen - which has since branched out into numerous money-making ventures employing 18,000 serving and retired military officers.
These run a wide range of businesses from banks and insurance companies to airlines, all under the control of the Defence Ministry or one of the three services.
The armed forces also control powerful businesses in trucking and transport, road-building and construction.
Originally, these firms were established to serve military needs, but grew so fat with military contracts that they moved into the civilian economy and have gradually squeezed out most private competitors.
Lieutenant General Amjad Shuaib is one master in this dark art.
His close association with Malik Riaz of Bahria Town dates from the time he was adjutant general of Pakistan army. His business association with Malik Riaz is the relationship which Kingcrete had with Malik Riaz Bahria Group.
He is business partner of Malik Riaz of Bahria Town and Major Minhas of kingcrete!
He is also master in lobbying Pakistani style with Khidmat of the boss and dil khush mehfils at the posh penthouses of mall of Lahore. Amjad Shuaib as partner with another ex-military owned business Kingcrete had a role in obtaining lucrative contracts from Major General Farrukh Javed Chairman NHA.
Farrukh Javed is also under trial in the Shershah Bridge collapse scam. His out of the way favours to notorious Karachi based consultant Zaheer Mirza whose faulty design was main reason of the Sher Shah Bridge collapse are well known.
An engineer who was working with kingcrete shared the news that Malik Riaz ,Amjad Shuaib and Major Minhas (main shareholder of Kingcrete and son in law of late Lieutenant General Akhtar Hussain Malik) managed a lucrative contracts exceeding 80 Crore rupees.
Malik Riaz and Amjad Shuaib in addition to the usual 7 % commission also presented the then chairman NHA Farrukh Javed with two costly penthouses in the controversial Mall of Lahore Cant jointly constructed by Malik Riaz and Kingcrete.
Malik Riaz managed to get the structure of Sheraton Lahore given to him by the Musharraf military junta in dubious circumstances and built it as The Mall of Lahore Cantonment.
More than five Pakistan Army generals were gifted costly penthouses free of cost by Malik Riaz in return for assisting his corrupt land mafia practices.
A source states that Malik Riaz even arranged special Garda Hashish for a three star general known and famous for being a great Charsee.
Malik Riaz employs many retired generals including famous Ehtesham Zameer who was master in rigging elections and admitted it.
It has been reported that Amjad Shuaib had close relations with another gunner officer now accused of NLC corruption Lieutenant General Afzal Muzaffar. Both manipulated substantial favours to Malik Riaz Bahria Group including the shady DHA Islamabad project where Malik Riaz is tainting DHAs military name with his shady land deals.
Malik Riaz and Amjad Shuaib maintain three penthouses in the Mall of Lahore’s top floors disguised as rest houses where they entertain the top brass with drink, dance and dinner!
Such is the history of the Byzantine military civil stables of Pakistan. Amjad Shuaib the overseer has come a long way from a man of humble origins.
Ex-Overseer Amjad Shuaibs corporate profile thus reads as follows:--
Lt.Gen. Amjad Shuaib (Chairman)
General Shuaib was commissioned in Pakistan Army in 1965. He graduated from Command and Staff College Quetta in 1974 and from National Defence College Islamabad in 1986. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant General and retired as Adjutant General Pakistan Army in March 2000.
General Shuaib holds two masters degrees, one each from Punjab University Lahore and Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad. He has also done his graduation in Mechanical Engineering. General Shuaib’s professional experience includes advisory roles and positions as Chief Executive, Director and Chairman of numerous financial institutions, corporate companies and industries. In addition to his commitments with CRL he is also working as Chairman of Hep Pak Foundation, a charitable organization working for creation of awareness amongst the masses on health issues particularly hepatitis B and C.
General Shuaib’s professional history is summarized as follows:
1- Chief Executive - Company Designation - Fauji Fertilizer Company
2- Vice President - International Fertilizer Association (South Asia)
3- Chairman - Askari Commercial Bank
4- Chairman - Army Welfare Trust
5- Director - Fauji Foundation
6- Chairman - King Crete Associates (a large size construction Company)
7- Director -Dawood Bank
8- Director -Inbox Business Technologies (A Computers Manufacturing Company)
In July, 2011, Additional and District Judge (ADJ) West Gulshan Aara Chandio reserved the judgment on the acquittal plea of National Highway Authority (NHA) Chairman Chaudry Altaf from the Shershah bridge collapse case under Section 265-K.
The NHA chief, ex-chairman NHA Major General (r) Farrukh Javed, operations member Raja Nowsherwan, general manager (construction) Mohammed Yousaf Barakzai, ex-general manager (construction) retired colonel Tahseenul Haq, former member Syed Najamul Hassan, M/s Engineering Consultants International Limited (ECIL) officials Zaheer Mirza, Khaild Mirza and Naveed Mirza were booked in the case registered on the order of the apex court on April 7 last year.
Earlier, during the regular case proceedings, prosecution witness Asim Amin appeared in the ADJ's court and deposed that he joined the NHA in December 2003 as general manager (design) while a contract for the design of Northern Bypass was executed between the NHA chairman and ECIL's Khalid Mirza in July 2001.
On October 30, 2010, Head of Inquiry Board DIG (investigation) Iftikhar Hussain Tarrar had filed a report submitting that all the alleged accused were innocent.
The alleged accused were earlier booked at the SITE police station in the case (FIR No 181/2010) for their alleged negligence committed during the construction of the Shershah bridge under sections 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab), 431 (mischief by injury to public road, bridge, river or channel), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 337-H (punishment for hurting by rash or negligent act) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
According to a Pakistani Intelligence Officer who wishes to remain anonymous
The Chinese have made clear to Pakistan that their investments to the country are conditional on bypassing the procurement laws that the national assembly had passed to prevent corruption.
Many years ago a Pakistani civil service officer was stuck with the cosiness of the international financial banks (including the WB and the IMF) with the corporate buccaneers, while investigating corporate corruption of the foreign power companies in Pakistan
For instance the Hubco Project in Karachi worth $476 million dollars was approved on the basis of an agreement that allowed a pay-back period of 20 years with an indexed 12% of profit annually over the licensing period. This was constructed on a financial model formulated over a period of 4 years.
However, during investigations a Pakistani civil service officer found that the model was tampered with in a period of 24 hrs when one government was replaced by another; $ 25 million short term borrowing was done by the project when the money was not needed by it - courtesy Morgan & Grenfell.
The most devastating finding of a Pakistani bureaucrat’s inquiry was that that a project that was constructed to amortize over a period of 20 years did so in 14 months after its operation.
These investments are the new East India Companies and they are now all over the world; we even have the spectre of food being grown for other nations in Africa and even in Pakistan by expelling the local peasantry.
The Pakistani civil servants inquiry amongst other things led to a lowering of the Pakistani power tariff in 1998 by Rs18 billion a year (at that time the $ value was $ 1 = Rs25). When the Nawaz Sharif government was replaced by Gen Musharraf in Oct 1999, he and the Chairman of Pakistan's power utility, WAPDA Gen Zulfikar visited Zurich in Dec 1999, where in the home of one of the prime investor from
Saudi Arabia they settled for private gains, withdrew the prosecution and now are having fun enjoying their ill-gotten gains while the country faces violence that is termed terrorism by those who were exploiting it to the hilt previously.
According a leaked WikiLeaks cables in 2011:
ISI chief Lt-Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha owns many commercial plazas in the twin-cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. One of his commercial plazas is situated near the PIA office in Saddar area of Rawalpindi, where the Dawn Media Group had also its Bureau Office. A serving Major of the Pakistan Army had been assigned to collect rent from the tenants at the beginning of every month.
There is a huge list of other crimes of Pak Military such as murders, kidnapping, ransom & extra judicial killings.
The people of Pakistan still remember the mysterious murder of Omar Asghar Khan an outstanding man, a bold politician who was investigating misuse of EOBI (Employee Old-Age Benefits Institution) funds.
A retire ISI colonel has reviled that:
Major General Saad Khattak -Ex Sector Commander ISI involved in kidnapping for ransom in Balochistan when he was serving in the ISI in Balochistan.
Saad Khattak also carries a reputation of extreme financial corruption. He was commanding a division in Balochistan in 2011.
The corruption in Pakistan, no doubt is a creation of Pakistan military, they supported and cooperated corrupt regimes in Pakistan. The corruption and crime are two main milestone of Pakistani military, they created criminal mafias, terrorist organisation and they are fully involved in drug smuggling.
If you want to know/read further about war crimes, genocide, state sponsoring terrorism & corruption of Pakistan military, then you must skim through the book “The Prospect of Nuclear Jihad in Pakistan: The armed forces, Islamic State, and the Threat of Chemical & Biological Terrorism” which is now published so please do not forget to read the book along with my Foreword.
.............................tel me more about...........
