THE facts are unsurprising — even if the sums are eye-watering. The lessons are many and yet to be fully revealed.

Balochistan, a province that is routinely at the bottom of nationwide socioeconomic rankings and, historically, perceived to be at the top of corruption rankings, is back in the news for all the wrong reasons. This time the matter is financial.

The finance secretary of Balochistan, Mushtaq Raisani, a man so skilled at his job and considered invaluable by his political bosses that he managed to remain in the same post since the previous government, is accused of hiding in his home several hundred million rupees in cash.

Mr Raisani, now under arrest by the National Accountability Bureau, or his representatives have not been heard from in public since, but the piles of cash allegedly recovered from his house are so huge as to be virtually impossible to have been staged.

Perhaps what is most alarming — and indicative of the state of governance in Balochistan — is that even now it is far from clear if Mr Raisani will eventually be convicted and serve a lengthy prison sentence.

Worse, the problem of corruption has already been exposed to extend beyond just bureaucrats — top military officials in the province in recent years have recently been punished by the army high command for various, though still publicly unknown, financial misdeeds.

The political leadership of the province is already deeply tainted, with almost all parties accused of and perceived to be involved in some manner of corruption or the other. It is possible, however, that the high-profile recent cases are the start of a change of culture in leadership in the province.

Perhaps a signal is being sent — likely from the military leadership — that a business-as-usual approach will not be tolerated in the province anymore.

For the long-suffering people of Balochistan, an institutional attack against corruption — whichever quarters it originates from — could mean that governance in the province is finally being taken seriously as a priority.

Yet, it is the ad hoc approach that is already of concern. As finance secretary, Mr Raisani made for an obvious primary target — without the finance ministry’s approval, large sums of money cannot be moved around by state officials. But corruption is as much about institutional flaws as it is about individuals.

The world over, the standard practice of good governance is to institute reforms when rot is discovered. Simply sidelining those who have fallen out of favour will change little.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2016