SPEAKING at a ceremony at Bahria College, Islamabad on Tuesday, navy chief Noman Bashir claimed that the kickbacks in the Agosta submarine deal in the 1990s were 'inappropriate' and that 'action' has been taken against the 'responsible persons'. With the controversy over the acquisition of French submarines refusing to die down, particularly in France, it is time the Pakistan Navy comes clean about all that it knows about the affair. If the Pakistani taxpayer's money was wasted on a defence deal that helped earn lucrative kickbacks for key officials, then the public has every right to know who was involved and what punishments have been meted out. Perhaps the most famous naval officer associated with the Agosta deal is former naval chief Mansurul Haq, who was sacked by the Sharif government in 1997 and then finally stripped of his rank and privileges by the Musharraf regime after negotiating a plea bargain on corruption charges. However, Mr Haq was not punished for crimes associated with the Agosta deal. To date, the only known offenders who have been punished for facilitating the Agosta deal are two low-ranking naval officers, and even there the punishments have been minor. So it would be interesting, to say the least, to find out what Adm Bashir meant when he said that 'responsible persons' had already been acted against.

Despite all the talk of corruption in Pakistan in recent months, it has largely gone unnoticed that the biggest deals Pakistan signs most regularly with international partners is in the defence sector. And these deals just happen to be the most opaque of all acquisitions in the public sector. What do Pakistanis know about the weapons systems and other multibillion-dollar equipment their armed services routinely acquire? Are they essential; was the most judicious use of public money made; were the best rates negotiated — to these and many other important questions Pakistanis have few answers.

The cloak of secrecy behind which the armed services operate, routinely justified on the basis of 'national security', has almost certainly helped shield massive losses to the state. And there is little sign that the culture of impunity is about to change. It is telling that a serving navy chief can casually suggest a potential billion-dollar scam is a closed issue because internal measures have been taken to punish some unknown individuals. At the very least, the Pakistan Navy should publicly declare the results of its internal investigations into the Agosta deal. Only then will the public be in a position to know if 'appropriate action' has indeed been taken.