AS is the wont of their profession, the media chiefs of our political parties are forced to prevaricate to support those put on pedestals by their respective parties and elected by public acclaim.

Responding to my column of February 11 ('Is hammam main sab nangay'), Nazir Dhoki, PPP media chief in Islamabad, (letter February 22) does not respond to my query as to whether there is any "objective non-party person in Pakistan who will deny that both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, their cohorts and their governments were corrupt to the core and collectively responsible for the robbery and plunder of this country and its people." Rather, he asks if there is any objective person in Pakistan who will deny that in Benazir's case justice has been perverted.

May we assure him that the foundations of the judicial system remain as judicious and meticulous as established and organized by his leader whilst she was twice in power.

He goes on to suggest that because of the shenanigans of Benazir and Asif the revenues of the country were increased by the appointment of the Swiss pre-inspection companies. This is a maifestly incorrect statement.

To explain. Say, the government's revenue was Rs.600 before the inspection companies were brought in. Following the introduction of the scheme it may well have become Rs.700. However, what flowed into the exchequer after the Swiss had collected their fees and paid BenAsif their kickbacks was only Rs.544.

For elucidation, disbelieving PPP stalwarts may refer to Exhibits PW 12/C and 12/D filed in the Lahore High Court in the government's case against Benazir and Asif in the matter of SGS/Cotecna, the Swiss accounts, and corruption.

Mr Dhoki mentions that Benazir's lawyer visited "the Swiss Attorney General's office" where he was informed that none of her Swiss accounts had been frozen.

Incorrect

He and his party members who believe this story may enquire from the office of Examining Magistrate Daniel Devaud in Geneva and make reference to "Procedure Nr.P/11105/1997 against Mister Ali Asif Zardari and others", the others being Benazir Bhutto, Jens Schlegelmilch, Hans Fischer and Robert Massey. They will therein find confirmation that all the Bhutto/Zardari accounts were frozen and remain frozen.With regard to the US Senate Subcommittee Report (website http://levin.senate.gov/issues/psireport2.htm) Mr Dhoki writes that it was "conducting ex-parte hearings". If he reads the Report he will find that it has been stated therein that Benazir Bhutto "told the Subcommittee staff that since ARY International Exchange is a foreign exchange business, the payment did not necessarily come from Mr Razzak, but could have come from a third party who was merely making use of ARY's exchange services. The staff invited Ms Bhutto to provide additional information on the M.S. Capricorn Trading accounts, but she has not yet done so." Ex parte ?

Mr Dhoki is of the opinion that justice in Pakistan has been "butchered". The answer to this is that Benazir should go to Geneva and be tried by the Swiss court which has been waiting for over two years for her to appear before it.

Again, I refer him to Examining Magistrate Devaud's "Procedure" referred to above. In it he will read that on May 29 and June 2, 1998, Messrs Schlegelmilch, Fischer and Massey were indicted by the Swiss court on the charge of money laundering. They were charged with having hindered the identification of the origin, the discovery and the forfeiture of the commissions agreed to in the contracts between SGS, Cotecna and the Government of Pakistan, contracts which were entered into and signed by Benazir Bhutto and A. R. Siddiqui of the CBR in violation of the official duties with which they were entrusted.

The examination of the Swiss judge also determined that Bomer Finance Inc was a Virgin Islands company which had an account with UBS in Geneva, the admitted beneficial owner of which was Asif Ali Zardari, husband of Benazir "prime minister and minister of finance at the time of signing the inspection contract on 29 September 1994."

A further finding : An accounting slip held by Mr Schlegelmilch has the notation "50 per cent AAZ, 50 percent BB". When questioned on this, Mr Schlegelmilch explained that he was given instructions according to which "in case of death the amount should be divided into two halves between his [AAZ's] famiy and his wife's family."

Judge Devaud found this explanation to be "incomplete" in view of the fact "that Mrs Benazir Bhutto has at her free disposal the account to buy jewels. In particular, in August 1997 Mrs Bhutto purchased a set of jewellery partly paid for in Pounds Sterling 117,000 by cash and the balance Pounds Sterling 92,000 by bank transfer from the Bomer account. This set has been seized in Geneva by the undersigned Magistrate." The set, like the accounts, remains frozen.

This fine set of jewellery, which cost Pakistan Pounds Sterling 209,000, almost Rs.20 million, was reproduced yesterday in its full glory, in technicolour, on the front page of Star and of Nawa-e-Waqt.

The examining magistrate, Judge Devaud, lists the charges considered against Benazir based on the current file: On charge is the use of offshore companies (Bomer and Nassim) to receive commissions "in the frame of entering into a governmental contract with the company SGS/Cotecna being made clear that on the one hand using screen companies to hide the product of crime is considered as an act hindering justice in its search of links between property and crime, and on the other hand that the author of the said crime may be his own launderer according to Swiss law."

This, according to the laws of Switzerland and in the opinion of the judge is "adequate to charge Mrs Benazir Bhutto with the crime of money laundering." Were Ms Bhutto to appear before him, she would be asked to acknowledge and confirm "that on request of the examining magistrate of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, you are charged with: money laundering (Section 305bis of the Swiss Criminal Code) for having with Mr Ali Asif Zardari, your husband, Messrs Jens Schlegelmilch, Hans Fischer and Robert Massey, from the spring of 1994 to the autumn of 1997, committed several acts in order to hinder identification of the origin, discovery and forfeiture of commissions agreed of six per cent on the total amount of invoices paid by Pakistan in view to obtain the conclusion of the contract entered into by SGS/Cotecna and Pakistan, it being made clear that the conclusion of the above-mentioned contract has been made possible only by your violation and that of Mr Siddiqui, manager of CBR, of your official duties, and that the commissions agreed have in effect been paid by SGS and Cotecna." She has, quite naturally, not agreed to appear before Judge Devaud.

Benazir's and Asif's appeals against their 1999 conviction for corruption by the Lahore High Court is to be heard tomorrow in the Supreme Court at Islamabad. A special Bench comprising Justices Muhammad Bashir Jehangiri, Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, Munir Shaikh, Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Iftikhar Mohammad Choudhry, Qazi Mohammad Farooq and Abdul Hameed Dogar has been constituted to hear this important case. The honourable judges may hear the case to its completion or they may adjourn it, or remand it back to the High Court. All depends on whose luck holds.

Benazir and Asif have appointed high-powered heavyweight Abdul Hafeez Pirzada to defend them. The government is to be represented by S. M. Zafar.

Ironically, the poor people of Pakistan will be paying for both the winning as well as the losing lawyer. On the other hand, fortune and luck have so far favoured Benazir. Which other person of her age in this world has managed to land as his/her first job in life the prime ministership of a country of over 130 million poverty-stricken people, a job from which he/she was later sacked on charges of corruption? Which other person has not been punished for his or her crimes? And which other person has managed to once again land the same job only to once again misule and rob? Unfortunate are the people of Pakistan and unlucky they remain.