THE National Accountability Bureau is a patently flawed organisation, both in terms of its design and discretionary powers and the workings of the institution. It is for that very reason there is a political consensus that NAB should be replaced with a new, better designed and better resourced organisation. However, for obvious reasons, the political class has been slow to move on the accountability agenda — public pressure and the misdeeds of many a politician could rock the country’s foundations if an empowered and independent accountability body were to be unleashed on the political landscape. But flawed as the existing NAB is, it need not be the national embarrassment that it has become and seems determined to continue being.

On Monday, before the SC, NAB defended its practice of a so-called voluntary return of ill-gotten wealth and, shockingly, appeared blithely unaware of the moral, political and legal dimensions of the case involving disgraced former Balochistan financial secretary Mushtaq Raisani. Even by the tawdry scale of corruption in the province, the discovery of, quite literally, cartons full of cash in the possession of Mr Raisani was an obvious financial crime that demands severe civil and criminal penalties. If a case can be made at all for voluntary return, it is in situations where either the sums involved are small and involve petty corruption — thereby preventing the legal system from further clogging — or where immense corruption monies are returned for a minimal reduction in sentencing, once again with a view to preventing the legal system from suffering further overloading. In Mr Raisani’s case the opposite is true — severe penalties for him and a determined effort to unearth the full scale of the corruption network that he was a part of. It is impossible for Mr Raisani, a bureaucrat, to have acted alone.

To be sure, the history of accountability in the country suggests witch-hunts and politically tainted proceedings. What has been attempted under the guise of anti-corruption efforts in the past should not be allowed to be done again. Yet it is possible for the pendulum to swing too far in the other direction — of total inaction and almost fostering a corruption-friendly environment for public officials. Arguably, that is the situation the country and the accountability process finds itself in today. While the government and opposition in parliament are making a show of once again kick-starting a review of the country’s accountability laws, there is clearly no real urgency on the part of either. Creating an independent, empowered and properly resourced accountability organisation will not be easy, but neither is it impossible. The experience the world over suggests that zealous prosecutors armed with good laws can make a great deal of a difference. It is time for some real accountability and a true strengthening of the institutional and democratic order in the country.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2017