Search for justice

The principal accused in the multi-billion rupee National Insurance Comply Limited (NICL) scam, Moonis Elahi has, rather unexpectedly, been acquitted by a banking court in Lahore. The verdict came after the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence against Elahi and that the charges against him were framed to malign his family. The ruling was based on the fact that, according to the prevailing rules of justice, the testimony of a fellow accused cannot be used against another, while the bank officers who were expected to testify as to Elahi’s involvement said nothing in their statement implying that he was a part of those who have earned millions from the scandal. Even the pleas of the head of the FIA regarding evidence pointing to Elahi’s involvement was largely ignored.

For a long time, strong suspicions had circulated of Elahi’s hand in the deal which resulted in huge sums of money ending up in accounts of close family members. It is also true that Elahi has earlier been accused of involvement in corruption. This, of course, does not necessarily mean he is guilty of the corruption he is accused of in the NICL case. But it certainly seems unusual that things have taken such a quick about-turn. At the very least, the investigation of the case should not have relied entirely on statements from co-accused turned state witnesses.

The fact also is that someone, somewhere, stole a large amount of money from the NICL. We need to discover where these billions went and in whose hands they lie. Even if Elahi is indeed not guilty as he has said, there are others who are. The priority must be to discover their identity. If we fail to do so, the battle against corruption in our country will suffer a really terrible blow and only encourage others to engage in similar acts which rob money from the exchequer. The levels of corruption need to be brought down and this can happen only if those believed to be guilty are brought to justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2011.