$28.7 Million Penalty Payment

Sir, This poor country has to pay $28.7 Million to a US firm Broadsheet LLC hired by a military dictator Musharraf in 2000, who usurped power and was blinded by his egoistic obsession to punish former PM Nawaz Sharif. There is a legal requirement to conclude a contract signed with a foreign company in case the State does not intend to proceed further, especially after Musharraf junta, under pressure from Saudi Arabia etc., decided to let the former PM go on exile and drop all charges. The Junta had numerous legal advisors and others holding immense power, which places on them the responsibility for signing an agreement with Broadsheet LLC and not closing it with no financial repercussions. What is astonishing is that $5 Million was paid to settle the matter but there are no receipts as evidence that such a payment was made. This country has suffered because of the obsession of elected or unelected heads of state, to punish their political adversaries, and in the process their mental faculties are so occupied that the affairs of state suffer. There is a procedure laid down in the constitution to proceed against public office holders. An elected PM must not allow his mind to be obsessed with political adversaries. Public Office holders accused of corruption should be proceeded against in accordance with laws in existence and the constitution. A former Chairman FBR has stated that almost $120 to 150 Billion belonging to Pakistanis is deposited in foreign bank accounts. He also stated that only 20% of this is corruption money and the rest 80% is institutionalized corruption consisting of commissions from state procurement deals and deposits by traders etc., through under or over invoicing etc.
Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore