Without robust systems and institutions, corruption remains deeply rooted in Pakistan’s state and society. There may be hardly anyone in the land of the pure who has not indulged in or suffered because of corruption.

But the overdose of corruption narrative without tangible efforts to fight the menace appears to have made the issue rather irrelevant. The institutions set up to fight corruption, in fact, went on to pollute the state systems as they repeatedly became tools for political engineering.

No wonder Pakistan dropped 16 places to 140 out of 180 in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2021 of Transparency International, which defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power. “Corruption erodes trust, weakens democracy, hampers economic development and further exacerbates inequality, poverty, social division and the environmental crisis,” says the international watchdog on corruption. This precisely describes the prevailing situation in Pakistan.

Exposing corruption and holding the corrupt to account can only happen if it is understood the way corruption works and the systems that enable it. While the politicians keep on exposing each other’s weaknesses, irregularities and corruptions at regular intervals, their counterparts in the permanent state — the public servants in uniforms, gowns and plain clothes — shield each other and remain unscathed.

If the government selects FBR officers in conformity with its obligations under the UN convention against corruption, the nation would not suffer public revenue losses worth billions of rupees

Even though they are non-political, they align themselves with major political players but create an enabling environment to promote and protect each other, irrespective of the political party they belong to and sideline those capable of going up the ladder on merit.

A discreet stage may be set shortly when the prime minister is presented with a situation to call a meeting of the high-powered promotion board to elevate officers of different occupational groups of the civil service to grade 22. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif faces a tough choice of standing with merit or favouritism as the aspirants of a promotion run after their respective connections among the coalition partners to secure grade 22 positions in preference to their more deserving counterparts.

He has to face the pressure of his coalition partners to pick and choose certain officers to grade 22 without realising that while selecting such grade 21 officers for their present positions, the government has already violated international obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. The government will again violate those obligations by elevating these officers to grade 22.

The “UN Convention Against Corruption”, ratified by Pakistan in 2005, obligates the state parties to take several measures, both legislative and administrative, to root out and prevent from their administrations the opportunities and causes of corruption. Article 7 of the Convention deals with the opportunities for corruption which open up when the wrong officers are selected for public positions, especially prone to corruption and also when such officers are promoted to higher grades in civil service, opening up before them still wider powers, privileges and jurisdictions to misuse.

Article 7(1)(a) of the Convention states that each state party shall adopt and strengthen systems, among other things, for the promotion of its civil servants, which are based on efficiency, transparency and the objective criteria of merit, equity and aptitude. Article 7(1)(b) of the Convention adds that each state party shall adopt adequate procedures for the selecting of individuals for public positions especially prone to corruption.

While there may be the government’s many selections for public positions and promotions in civil service in which it may have violated its international obligations under this UN Convention, its selections and promotions in the country’s revenue administration being prone to corruption should be a particular cause of concern for the government as such selections and promotions have caused the government massive revenue losses in billions of rupees over the years.

The incumbent government had made several selections for top positions in the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) without adopting adequate procedures in conformity with UN Convention to screen the right individuals for these public positions, especially prone to corruption. The result is that several customs officers involved in big frauds and massive revenue loss scams have somehow managed to capture top positions in FBR.

For instance, there is a senior officer previously posted at Port Qasim Collectorate Karachi who was involved in a big revenue loss fraud. The higher authority had recommended no field posting till the conclusion of the enquiry and his clearance from the scam. He used his influence to suppress such enquiry and has now been selected by the incumbent government to lead the cadre. The officer is set to be considered for elevation to grade 22.

Another similar officer taking an important port position is lining up his connections with a smaller coalition partner for elevation to another grade 22 position. The officer had manoeuvred such changes in the custom laws, which helped promote corruption and covered up big revenue loss scams. The dramatised so-called crackdown on petroleum smuggling and similar other cases to impress the PTI government and secure promotion only caused problems to the supply chain.

An enquiry report was pushed under the carpet that established revenue loss in billions of rupees and fixed responsibility on senior customs officers, including those in Quetta and later identified in another scam involving under-invoicing of imported luxury vehicles.

Had the government selected officers for these public positions in FBR in conformity with its obligations under the UN Convention against Corruption, the nation could not have suffered public revenue losses worth billions of rupees at the hands of such officers.

The nation may suffer more losses in good governance if the prime minister, as chairman of the high-powered promotion board, chooses to once again brush aside his government’s obligations under the UN Convention Against Corruption while approving promotions to the highest grade in the civil service of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 9th, 2023