LAW enforcement agencies in Pakistan have always had a difficult time when it comes to white-collar crimes, and amongst the most difficult of these to investigate is money laundering. Very few prosecutions are ever mounted for this crime, and even fewer convictions obtained. There are various reasons for this deficiency, but the biggest one is the fact that law enforcement agencies frequently come up against powerful and connected people when they start moving on a money laundering investigation. This makes it difficult for them to muster the will to carry on with the focus and vigour that such investigations require. As a result, the main government agencies in whose domains money laundering can potentially fall — FIA, NAB, SECP, FBR and the State Bank — have an elaborate set of excuses ready to explain their lack of action, or their failure when they do act. It is important to understand that these are just excuses: the powers to investigate and prosecute money laundering exist. It is equally important to understand that the failure to act grows out of a deeper sense of caution that these departments have developed over a period of time when dealing with this offence.

This lack of resolve has resulted in stunting the capacities of law enforcement. Even in those rare cases when an investigation is launched, the better lawyers are usually found defending the accused since the remuneration on that side is far better than what the government can pay its special public prosecutors. The FBR also finds itself arrayed against the sharpest chartered accountants, as well as the wiliest lawyers, when moving against individuals who have siphoned money abroad without paying taxes. Across the board, the will and capacity to pursue money launderers is withered and wilted, making it difficult for the state to mount an effective response when challenged to do so, as it has in the SC judgement. In the weeks to come, as the JIT is constituted and begins its job, it will have to trace a two and a half decade old money trail through multiple jurisdictions. The old problems of will and capacity will hamper its job, quite possibly setting the stage for yet another indeterminate outcome. If we are to break out of this impasse, we will have to start taking the crime of money laundering more seriously so wrongdoing can be apprehended long before it evolves into a crippling political controversy.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2017