The politics of corruption

In 2018, Lula Da Silva, a former president hailing from Brazil’s workers’ party predicted to win the Brazilian presidency, was jailed on allegations of corruption, paving the way for the far-right Jair Bolsanaro to lead a moral crusade against corruption in his country. Through some brilliant work at The Intercept, Glenn Greenwald, responsible for the Snowden leaks and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, exposed how many of the charges were flimsy at best, and conspiracy theories at worst. While many investigations into corruption in the Brazilian government have been done (such as Operation Car Wash) and revealed systemic corruption, Lula and his party were cast in the spotlight, despite a lack of evidence that they, in particular, were responsible for the state of Brazil’s government. What happened in Brazil is endemic around the world: the rise of a brand of right-wing politics that claims to be on a moral crusade against corruption, accusing opponents of fraud, while often inaccurately framing themselves as clean actors that will “drain the swamp”. Pakistan is no exception, in fact, it’s the perfect case study in such a politics. PTI, since its inception, has often shifted politics away from ideological discourse to measurements of corruption, positing themselves as heroes who will reset Pakistan’s system, whose every ailment is attributable to corruption.

However, these crusaders of justice often don’t come from grassroots politics. Many of these parties, such as Bolsanaro’s as well as Khan’s, are entrenched within political systems of patronage and dynasties, often consisting of turncoats who have represented previous “corrupt” regimes. Thus, an ingenious piece of framing is used to protect their leaders. All corruption allegedly done under their opponents is directly attributed to them. Whether it’s Saaf Pani Project, LDA City or others, if it was done under the Sharif government, they are directly responsible for any corruption which may have happened under their watch. However, corruption allegedly done under Khan’s watch isn’t directly attributed to him. It is attributed to misplaced faith, honest mistakes, and rogue actors. Khan even says as much, that he made a mistake by misplacing his trust in turncoats. Thus, whenever the PTI government has been accused of corruption — whether it be the sugar scandal, foreign funding case, offshore accounts of government officials revealed in the Pandora leaks or allegations of horse-trading during the Senate elections — blame is shifted away from the leadership, promises of justice are made, and all is forgotten. Thus, a moral binary is created between the “corrupt” and “incorruptible”, where the allegations against the former are true, even if courts say otherwise, and the allegations against the latter are false, conspiracies, mistakes, or aren’t even discussed at all. This creates a politics that is polarised and very partisan, but without meaningful discourse or choices, where people are given the illusion of choice through framing that one would call a political masterpiece, only possible by someone as charismatic as Khan, and unemulatable by his opponents.

Pakistan’s unique and powerful National Accountability Bureau allows for these allegations to be weaponised further. Its structure allows for three keys things. Firstly, it allows for detention without charge for up to 90 days. This practice has been described by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial as “cruel” and is worsened by the fact that this remand is sometimes extended well beyond the initial 90 days. Secondly, it shifts burdens of proof onto the accused to prove their innocence, defying legal norms and dragging on cases that may often be swept aside by a regular court. Thirdly, it has a distinct lack of transparency compared to other courts, much of what we know from proceedings comes from informal “sources”, particularly during the often lengthy periods of time before official charges are pressed. Thus, the previous government made it a pattern to arrest individuals for indefinite periods of time, accuse them without charge, with subsequent informal information making its way to the media. This unaccountable series of processes made hurling accusations of corruption much more potent, especially for those who may not know how NAB works, and persuaded the public mind without much scrutiny.

However, you can’t fool people forever. Public opinion eventually turned against Jair Bolsanaro, who is currently accused of running an embezzlement scheme for almost 30 years, dubbed ‘rachadinha’. The same fate lies in store for everyone who follows this type of politics. Eventually, the jig is up. Whether that’s today, tomorrow, or a year from now. Without real structural reform that removes the incentives for corruption and rent-seeking, ‘saviours’ end up embroiled in exactly the same evils that they claimed to fight.

That’s not to say corruption isn’t important and we shouldn’t pursue to end it. One can hardly compare Khan’s opponents to Lula da Silva, a man revered by many, someone who is often cited as a hope for working people around the world, and of far more honour than most politicians. Rather, it calls for a much more rigorous, even-handed and transparent analysis of allegations of corruption. Else, we threaten to replace one set of unaccountable, dynastic set of rent-seekers with another, while also shifting the focus away from many issues that are, arguably, greater ailments. The only way for this reform to come is to recognise that there must be an underlying progressive politics to anti-corruption battles, which include things like antitrust reforms, a dilution of wealth concentration and more democratic structures of accountability. Without this progressive agenda, calls for accountability constitute political partisanship, not politics. The politics of corruption, as it is right now, has thus created an essentially meaningless political battle and one which fails to inspire change. The people of Pakistan deserve better.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2022.

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