Pakistan police arrest 12 in anti corruption drive

LAHORE, Nov 17: Pakistani police arrested at least 12 businessmen and politicians in pre-dawn raids today in a crackdown on corruption, police officials said.

Under new law enacted overnight, the military rulers set up a national accountability bureau to prosecute offenders and recover money from them.

At least 10 people were arrested in Lahore and two in Peshawar in Northwestern Pakistan, police said. Raids were continuing across the country and more arrests were expected.

Offenders were given until yesterday to pay back loans and unpaid taxes.

A small elite of Pakistani businessmen and politicians has oustanding loans worth 4.1 billion dollars, a third of the national budget.

Raids by police and military officials picked up a former Chief Minister of Punjab province, a close relative of former president Farooq Leghari, and an executive from the Ittefaq Group, a business run by the family of deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif, they said.

Police also arrested Hafiz Saigol, a businessman.

Banking sources said Sharif’s family deposited about 5.4 million dollars in Lahore yesterday just before the deadline expired.

General Pervez Musharraf has put this corruption offensive at the top of his agenda. Some businessmen were still negotiating loan repayments after paying back some of the money they had borrowed, banking sources said. (AFP)

US House passes resolution congratulating India

WASHINGTON, Nov 17: The US house of representatives has passed a resolution congratulating India on its successful democratic elections and urging President Bill Clinton to visit India.

Several speakers while discussing the resolution, already cleared by the House International Relations Committee, yesterday in the House contrasted Indian democracy with the authoritarian system of Government in China.

Speakers included Congressmen Benjamin Gilman, Tom Landos, Sam Gejdenson, Ed Royce, Sherrod Brown, Dana Rohrabacher, Frank Pallone and David Minge. (PTI)

Pakistan sets tough corruption penalties

ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: Pakistan’s military regime on today backed up its crackdown on corruption with tough penalties of up to 14 years in jail for those convicted of graft or refusing to pay back loans.

After a deadline set by new military ruler General Pervez Musharraf for defaulters to pay back their loans passed yesterday, the Government beefed up patrols at airports to prevent anyone accused of graft or loan defaults from fleeing.

It also put into effect a new law that deals severely with those who are caught, indicating it would go after all those it accuses of looting the country over the past 15 years.

"This ordinance shall come into force at once and shall be deemed to have come into force from the 1st day of January 1985," the official APP news agency reported.

The crackdown is seen as the first major test of the new military regime.

Shortly after seizing power on October 12, Mr Musharraf announced a massive crackdown on loan defaulters — estimated to owe banks 211 billion rupees — and warned he would deal harshly with those who did not comply.

"All the offences defined in the order shall be non-bailable and a person who commits the offence of corruption and corrupt practices shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 14 years, or with fine, or both," the new law said.

Bankers today estimated that about seven billion rupees had been recovered by the deadline, just slightly more than three percent of the total.

Most of the money was borrowed by a politically connected elite.

Witnesses said police carried out raids in the capital Islamabad, in Lahore, the capital of populous Punjab province, and in the business centre Karachi, but it was not known if anyone was arrested.

The new law also said that people convicted of corruption would lose their right to hold office for 21 years and that assets "found to be disproportionate to the known sources of his income or which is acquired through corruption or corrupt practices" would be seized by the Government.

The law is aimed at plugging loopholes in the existing legal system and makes it easier for the Government to chase the defaulters and gives a legal framework for the establishment of a National Accountability Bureau to fight white-collar crime.

"We want to give a clear message to wilful defaulters and the general public that the era of loot and plunder comes to an end and nobody will be allowed to do so in the future," Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider was quoted by APP as saying.

Newspapers reported that representatives of several companies belonging to the family of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had also made payments to their creditors on yesterday.

The news said 271 million rupees was paid before the deadline while the nation said the family’s Ittefaq Group paid 371 million dollars. The group has been accused by political opponents of owing banks more than two billion rupees.

Special accountability courts will be set up and will decide cases within 30 days, the law said. (REUTERS)

UN population official uneasy about us dues deal

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 17: A potential deal between the White House and Congressional Republicans linking abortion rights with the payment of U.N. dues drew criticism from the U.N. Population Fund, which feared family planning programmes overseas would be curtailed.

Nafis Sadik, UNFPA’s executive director, said her agency per se would might not be affected as it did not promote abortion or offer such services, although it did advocate treatment for botched abortions.

"We do not actually support abortion programmes," Ms Sadik said in answer to queries at a news conference. "It may not affect our funding but one doesn’t know what the interpretation may be," of the proposed legislation, she added.

UNFPA received nothing from the United States in 1999 but is due to get 25 million dollars in the year 2000.

"Those who are opposed to abortion must provide the maximum help for organisations that provide family planning services" to prevent unwanted pregnancies as well as stem the spread of aids by educating people on the use of condoms and other contraceptives, Ms Sadik, a Pakistani physician, said.

Population experts say UNFPA works with some groups, which advocate or offer abortion services in countries where abortion is illegal. But these are in counties where Governments have turned a blind eye and support family planning services. This is particularly true in refugee camps in case of rape.

The U.S. deal on abortion would free nearly 923 million dollars in arrears to the United Nations, over three years, Albeit with conditions.

Initial reports say it would ban U.S. funds going to international organisations that perform abortions or advocate liberalised abortion laws. The President could waive this requirement but this would automatically result in a 6 percent cut in the 385 million dollars of total international family assistance funding.

"What is puzzling to people outside the United States is that what is legal and right in the U.S. is forbidden on the outside," Ms Sadik said.

"And what is not allowed within the United States, like a gag rule, is somehow promoted outside the United States from a country which promotes basic human rights," she said.

Acknowledging the Clinton administration was in a difficult position if it wanted to get some of the U.N. arrears paid, Ms Sadik said she feared that any cutbacks on family planning would results in tens of thousands of unwanted pregnancies and an equal number of abortions.

The legal U.S. debt to the United Nations is now 1.6 billion dollars for dues and peacekeeping. The Helms-Biden bill under consideration in Congress would pay 923 million to the world body and impose conditions, such as lowering U.S. dues that requires the agreement of all U.N. members.

Canada’s U.N. Ambassador Robert Fowler told reporters "we do find it a little strange that Helms-Biden is somehow paying the U.S. debt when any analysis of at least the Helms-Biden bill falls short of paying the U.S. Debt."

He said it was a "fundamental contractual obligation" for U.N. members to pay their bills "in full, on time and without conditions and I mean in full, on time and without conditions."

If the bill passes, about 100 million dollars would be paid this year, leaving the administration to find 250 million dollars before December 31 or automatically lose its vote in the U.N. General Assembly, a condition of the U.N. charter. (REUTERS)

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