ISLAMABAD, April 22: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Thursday called for an international legislation to help return the looted wealth of developing countries stashed away in banks of the developed world by corrupt leaders, politicians and businessmen.

"We must stop this loot money laundering in Western banks through legislation and UN resolutions. This is the biggest relief that the developed world can give to the developing countries," he said.

Speaking at the concluding session of a three-day international conference on UN Convention Against Corruption, the president said the biggest chunk in corruption in every developing country was looting the country's wealth and stashing it away in foreign, particularly, the Western banks.

"I call it loot money laundering." In this context, he referred to the off-shore accounts maintained by the corrupt politicians, businessmen and other leaders of the developing countries, and observed that the Western banks are flourishing with the money looted from developing countries.

"Give billions of dollars back to us. No one should be allowed to take billions of dollars away. That is the biggest source of corruption," the president said.

Referring to parliament, President Musharraf said some corrupt people had reached parliament and they were hindering the working of the government. "This is a reality. Some corrupt people have become elected and have come into parliament due to environmental contradictions," the president said.

The president used the term of "environmental contradictions" which, he said, had caused weakness in the accountability system despite the fact that the government was committed to eradicating corruption from society. "There is no corruption-free society in the world today. No country can claim to be corruption free but the level of corruption varies from country to country," he said.

Talking about what he called "environmental hazards" being faced by the government and NAB in the eradication of corruption, the president said when the Bureau had been established it struck against corruption but then it had to face "environmental contradictions."

"We had to give some relief and facilities to those who had money so that they could invest in the country but a majority of the wealthy people are investigated. Similarly, I asked banks to give loans but on the other hand the bankers were investigated in loan default cases so they stopped giving loans as they became scared of NAB," the president said.

"We have NAB courts to dispose of corruption cases within the shortest possible time but the environment of these courts is the same as that of normal judiciary in Pakistan," he maintained.

Appreciating NAB's performance, the president said in the prevailing circumstances the Bureau had done a great job as it had so far deposited $3 billion into the national exchequer which he said was no small an achievement.

ACCOUNTABILITY OF ARMED FORCES & JUDICIARY: Referring to demands of accountability of armed forces and the judiciary, the President said that NAB had always been criticized for not brining into its ambit armed forces and the judiciary, "but as far as the armed forces are concerned there is an in-built accountability system which is very harsh and it had checks and balances and the same is the case of the judiciary." However, he said, retired personnel of armed forces were accountable to NAB.

The president dismissed the impression as "absolutely wrong and most unfair" that the government had been arresting and filing cases against those politicians who were opposing government's policies.

He said cases of corruption had been pursued against businessmen, bureaucrats and retired army officers as well. "NAB carries out across-the-board accountability," he asserted.

He said NAB had been told to arrest only the rich people involved in corruption and that was why no poor and the people accused of petty crimes had been booked by the Bureau.

"If a poor commits corruption he has reasons for that but the rich people have no excuse for this. Similarly, I asked Wapda to forgive the poor for using 'Kundas' to get electricity but those who use 10 air conditioners by stealing power, should not be forgiven and should be taken to task," he said.

He said nepotism and financial corruption were spoiling society. "About 10 per cent of the government employees are honest and they cannot be changed and the other 10 per cent are extremely corrupt and no-one can change them while the rest - 80 per cent - change themselves according to the situation. We have to check the lot of 80 per cent of total government employees to reduce corruption," he declared.

Highlighting the performance of many government institutions, he said a total autonomy had been given to the Federal Public Service Commission and it had stopped favouritism and selection was now being made by it purely on merit.

The president said the 150-year-old police system had been replaced by the Police Order-2002 under which police could not be politicized. He said Pakistan today stood at number 92 of 133 countries in Transparency International's ratings.