In last week's column on the same subject, the gluttony of our political classes, referred to were the advertisements inserted in our English language press by the Sharif family which I suggested had cost us, the people, close to half a million rupees. I was corrected by a reader who reminded me that other of the family's advertisements have also been carried in the Urdu press and that thus the cost would be far closer to one million rupees.

One advertisement in one of the Urdu newspapers displays Nawaz Sharif, not in his Arabian palace but behind computerized prison cell bars and the literal translation of the text conveys: 'Commitment to serve the people cannot be imprisoned. Shackles cannot restrain the passion to develop one's country. Patriotism can never be exiled.'

Do Nawaz Sharif and his fellow politicians genuinely expect us to believe what they write and say? Does Benazir Bhutto really expect us and the world to believe her protestations against the host of accusations of corruption put against her? No. For instance, when Benazir visited Little Rock, Arkansas, at the end of last month to lecture the students at the university, one who heard her remarked that "bringing Bhutto to speak at the UALR was akin to inviting ousted Enron Corporation executives to speak at the commencement." (Enron, as we all know, went bankrupt last year and is now under investigation for fraud.)

Our National Accountability Bureau, the aptly acronymed NAB, should have in its possession a document which was posted on the internet last year - a US Senate document headed 'Minority Staff Report for Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Hearing on Private Banking and Money Laundering: A case study of Opportunities and Vulnerabilities, dated November 9, 1999.

The 50-page report details the grimy monetary dealings of seven notorious wheeler-dealers. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has the proud privilege of having one of their own on this illustrious list: Raoul Salinas, former Mexican government official, brother of former president of Mexico; Asif Ali Zardari, former Pakistan government official and legislator, husband of former prime minister of Pakistan; El Hadj Omar Bongo, president of Gabon; Mohammad, Ibrahim and Abba Abacha, sons of Sani Abacha, former military leader of Nigeria.

Under the sub-title 'The Facts', it is written of Asif Zardari: "The second case history involves Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan. Ms Bhutto was elected prime minister in 1988, dismissed by the president of Pakistan in August 1990 for alleged corruption and inability to maintain law and order, elected prime minister once again in October 1993, and dismissed by the president again in November 1996. At various times, Mr Zardari served as senator, environment minister and minister for investments in the Bhutto government. In between the two Bhutto administrations, he was incarcerated in 1990 and 1991 on charges of corruption; the charges were eventually dropped [why and who engineered the 'dropping'?]. During Ms Bhutto's second term there were increasing allegations of corruption in her government and a major target of those allegations was Mr Zardari. It has been reported that the government of Pakistan claims that Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari stole over USD one billion from the country."

A news item in the national press on September 9 this year informs us that the government would that day present "documents and material provided by the judicial authorities of Switzerland and the UK in the Accountability Court at Attock in support of NAB reference on 'commissions and kickbacks' against Benazir and Asif Zardari."

The Ehtesab Bureau of Nawaz Sharif's Senator, Saifur Rahman, had filed the case in the Lahore High Court in February 1998. It was subsequently transferred to the NAB court at Attock which started its hearings in January 2001, recorded evidence on local assets, and completed the cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses.

According to a news item, the estimated value of Benazir's and Asif's robbings amount to $ 1.5 billion and the wealth amassed now lies in, inter alia, Switzerland, the UK, France, the US, Spain in the form of assets, bank accounts and properties. All this, of course, is totally out of proportion to their known sources of income.

On the request of the Pakistan government, the Swiss government carried out due investigation and froze the bank accounts of the resourceful couple. Apparently, other countries are in the process of doing the same. The court in Geneva, in which Benazir and Asif stand indicted, together with their Swiss comrades in corruption in the SGS Cotecna case, have admitted that the couple have caused damage to Pakistan.

On to another politically motivated scam: carried in the massive October 1 supplement produced by this newspaper on 'Business and Industry in Sindh' is an interview with the president of the government-owned National Bank of Pakistan, Syed Ali Raza. He was questioned on the old familiar Mehran Bank scandal dating back to 1990. [Younus Habib's Mehran Bank was brought into being by Jam Sadiq Ali of Sindh, the once ardent PPPite who went into exile when Zia-ul-Haq turfed out his leader. He was recreated and reinstalled by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan as chief minister of Sindh to keep Benazir's PPP at bay.]

According to Raza, a commission to investigate the matter was formed in 1994, completed its inquiry in 1995, but its report was never made public by the State Bank and the government. He attributes the failure of Mehran Bank to the extension of illegal and irregular loans, many of which were executed on the verbal orders of the management, Younus Habib and his partners, even prior to the opening of an account by the person concerned and before any formalities were completed. Advances extended were in violation of State Bank regulations, and no effective monitoring device was in place to unearth scams. The management robbed by simply transferring the funds deposited by public sector bodies, without their consent, and depositing them in the Mehran Bank account of Asset Investment Bank Limited from where they were siphoned off to 39 fictitious parties. The total amount scammed was Rs 480 million.

In 1995, Mehran Bank was amalgamated with the NBP and in 1996 the NBP had to make full provision for Mehran's liabilities which resulted in a net loss that year to the bank of Rs 1.260 billion.

The recorded details of such scams, and the robberies committed by the political classes and their cronies, 'chamchas' and tools, would consume uncountable reams of paper. The question is: how many of the major scammers, the tool-users, remain free and easy, untouched by our accountability experts, to again wangle their way into positions of power whence they may again scam and scam with impunity? The city is plastered with banners, and with giant hoardings displaying the frightening familiar features of those craving votes. Bad days ahead.

e-mail: ac@xiber.com