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PAKISTAN-CORRUPTION-LAW-ECONOMY-FOCUS
Pakistan PM promises ‘whistleblower’ law to fight corruption
ISLAMABAD, Oct 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on
Sunday promised a new law that will reward whistleblowers who help nab
corrupt officials and politicians.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party won the July election campaigning on
an anti-corruption reformist agenda, and has blamed the country’s economic
woes on the alleged corrupt practices of his predecessors.
With Pakistan facing a balance-of-payments crisis, Khan said recovering
that stolen wealth would help ease the burden on the country’s economy.
He has claimed that billions of dollars of public money have been stolen
over the last few decades, much of it laundered out of the country.
“The law will invite countrymen to identify the corrupt and
(whistleblowers will) get 20 percent of the ill-gotten money and assets
recovered from such people,” Khan told a press conference in the eastern city
of Lahore.
The other 80 percent would be used to pay off Pakistan’s debts, he said.
Khan did not give any further details, but said a draft of the law will be
presented in parliament in the coming days, and will include protections for
whistleblowers.
Pakistan’s budget deficit has climbed steadily over the last five years,
and foreign currency reserves have declined.
The rupee has also been repeatedly devalued in the past year, fuelling
inflation.
Islamabad is likely to seek a bailout from the International Monetary
Fund, which has called on the new government to act fast to stabilise
Pakistan’s teetering economy, warning growth will likely slow and inflation
rise further.
Khan’s predecessor Nawaz Sharif was ousted from office last year by the
Supreme Court over alleged corruption, and is currently on bail pending
appeal.
His brother Shehbaz Sharif, the current Pakistan opposition leader, was
arrested on Friday for graft — a move described as politically motivated by
the brothers’ Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) party, ahead of by-
elections later this month.
BSS/AFP/HR/0915