Editorial

Suisse Secrets

There were also longstanding rumours that not all of the cash made it to the intended recipients

February 23, 2022

A new investigation based on leaked Swiss bank documents names at least one powerful former ISI chief — Gen Akhtar Abdur Rehman — among many other notable account holders. Gen Akhtar, who was among the victims of the 1988 C-130 crash in Bahawalpur that also killed dictator Gen Ziaul Haq and 28 others, was considered the second-most powerful man in Pakistan after Zia. Internationally, his claim to fame was as the “archietect of the Afghan war” due to his role in creating and arming the Afghan Mujahideen, primarily using US and Saudi cash. There were also longstanding rumours that not all of the cash made it to the intended recipients.

Reports based on the leaked documents show that in 1985, a Swiss account was opened in the names of three of Gen Akhtar’s sons. That account was worth about $3.7 million by 2003. Another account was opened in 1986 in the name of his another son, who is not directly involved in politics. This account contained over $9.2 million by 2010. The brothers either declined to comment or denied illegality in the accounts in their response. Interestingly, one of the sons is currently an MNA, having served the sitting government as a federal minister.

While the leaks and subsequent reports do not attribute a source for the money, it would take some explaining as to how any Pakistani government official — even a general or a BS-22 officer — could accumulate that kind of cash. But the Akhtars are hardly the only big names in the Suisse Secrets, as the leaked Credit Suisse documents are being called. Some 1,400 Pakistanis are named, including several politically exposed persons. However, not all of them have been named yet. One other name that has been revealed is Lt Gen (retd) Zahid Ali Akbar, who was involved in the nuclear programme in the 70s and 80s. In 2016, he gave NAB Rs200 million in a plea deal. His account was worth about $15 million at its peak.

Also of note, the leaks have led to the biggest grouping in the EU parliament to call for blacklisting Switzerland as a ‘high-risk’ jurisdiction — similar but more stringent than the FATF blacklist — which would make it the only European country on the list.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2022.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.