The private sector seminar was held on 21st July 2009 at the Avari Towers, Indus Suite. It was organized jointly by Transparency International Pakistan and S.I.T.E Association of Industry. The attendees were the guests invited to the event, representatives from both the public and private sectors, and the speakers at the event. Both print and electronic media coverage was provided throughout the seminar.
Mrs. Nargis A. Mirza, Assistant Project Coordinator at Transparency International Pakistan was the Masters of Ceremony for the proceedings.
After the introductory speech given by Mrs. Mirza, the speakers were invited onstage, comprising of Mr. Syed Adil Gilani, Chairman, TI-P, Mr. Munir Qureshi, Member Customs, FBR, Engr. M. A. Jabbar, Chairman S.I.T.E Association of Industry, Mr. Nisar Sheikhani, Chairman All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association, Mr. Zubair Motiwala, Advisor to the CM Sindh on Provincial Investments and Dr. Shoaib Suddle, Federal Tax Ombudsman.
The recitation of a passage from the Holy Quran followed, given by Mr. Naseem Ahmed Siddique of TI-P.
The opening address was given by Mr. Gilani, who introduced the gathering to corruption and its two faces, the private sector and the public sector. The former sector gives and the latter takes. He gave special attention to two individuals considered to be at important positions in the public sector, Dr. Suddle, and Mr. Qureshi. He also informed the audience about the NCPS 2009. Mr. Gilani said that corruption has put Pakistan in the condition of economic crisis, taking as an example the recent power outage and water shortage, which was a result of the weather conditions Karachi recently faced. It was also mentioned that after the comparison of NCPS 2006 and 2009, it was discovered that corruption had increased four and a half times. The survey found the police to be the most corrupt sector; however, customs, taxes and judiciary sectors have greatly improved. He forcefully declared that the NRO is the biggest plight of Pakistan’s economy. Despite all these factors, Mr. Gilani declared that all is yet not lost. The movement to restore the judiciary which had no purpose other than to right a wrong greatly improved Pakistan’s stance. This was stated to a round of applause by the house. Mr. Gilani also said there are clean departments like the NADRA in Pakistan, and no NAB or judiciary is needed if we look out for each other as one nation.
Mr. Munir Qureshi was invited next to address the audience. He expressed his gratitude at being invited to address the gathering on a serious topic which has been an issue in the subcontinent ever since pre-partition. He also defined corruption as asymptotic of mismanagement, political instability, misinterpretation of the law, tax evasion, and discriminatory powers. He stated that an absolute lack of accountability and transparency leads to an ideal situation for corruption. Using the reference of the NCPS 2003, 2006 and 2009, Mr. Qureshi said that where the FBR stood at 4th and 5th most-corrupt sector in 2003 and 2006, it now stands as the 7th most corrupt sector in 2009. This is because there have been reforms instilled in the system since 2003. Unfortunately, a sense of insecurity has weakened the civil servant’s spine. Mr. Qureshi commended Pakistan for making a greater effort than most countries to fight corruption. He declared that commitment to fight against corruption has to start at the highest level for it to take effect. At the end of his speech, he encouraged Transparency International Pakistan to continue its efforts to fight corruption.
The second valued speaker was Engr. M. A. Jabbar, who needed an answer to why the private sector desired to continue the promotion of the prevalent corruption culture. He recalled that a corrupt individual was spoken of with contempt in his childhood, but now it is the honest individual who is called a fool. It seemed to him that corruption is being rationalized by all Pakistanis, and that we all contribute to the misuse of power. He declared the power sector has failed professionally and is a classic case of corruption. Engr. Jabbar said that all civil services are busy merry-making and that is their purpose. He also presented the cases of Hong Kong and Singapore and how they battled corruption successfully using the top-down eradication method. He shared his views with the audience that people are scared to be in the tax net with good reason, which is one of the reasons behind corruption.
After Engr. M. A. Jabbar’s speech, Mr. Gilani invited Mr. Abdul Qadir Memon, President of Pakistan Tax Bar Association, to speak on why businessmen pay bribes. Mr. Memon said that since he’s a tax man, he’ll take the conversation into that vein. He said that in his opinion, man is weak and to gain immediate relief can take the wrong path. Of course, this is the same for every country, not just Pakistan. If we look at the tax reforms during the past 7 years, commendable work has been done because these reforms were carried out by people of integrity who meant business. The e-system has been established which doesn’t allow for corruptive action or backlog. Mr. Memon requested the audience to let the tax reforms continue.
The next person to be invited to the podium was Mr. Nisar Sheikhani, who started his presentation by saying that if Aristotle had been alive and residing in Pakistan, he would have committed suicide. After giving his take on how to define corruption, Mr. Sheikhani stated that not all people are corrupt, and corruption hurts those individuals. It weakens the economic structure of a country, and nobody is free of corruption. They either benefit from it or are victims of it. He recounted his own personal experience in relation to a tax audit he had to endure. Although his records were in perfect order, the auditor got changed four times before Mr. Sheikhani was told by the auditor himself that until he wasn’t given a bribe his audit wouldn’t be given the stamp of approval, and that is how he himself became a victim of corruption. When he received an order for another audit the next year, he went straight to the commissioner and had the audit withdrawn. He questioned the audience how an ordinary person with ordinary means approach a higher level official like he did?
The next speaker was Mr. Zubair Motiwala who shared his belief that it is the laws which make the business community powerful enough to abuse the law and be corrupt. He mentioned the Afghan Transit Trade as one of the largest sources of smuggling in the country which makes local products non-competitive in local, as well as in international markets. He also gave an example of successful trading in land-locked countries, such as the trade between India and Nepal. The need to bring reforms in tax laws was emphasized and stressed upon. Mr. Motiwala agreed that making changes in law for improvement is one of the most difficult jobs, as bureaucrats did not like reforms and they are the crux of the problems. He stated that the economy is suffering at the macro level because of corruption, and major reforms need to be made.
An active question and answer session followed, where questions were raised, opinions were given and thoughts shared. Mr. Wajid Jawad asked the first question, regarding why Sindh has different amendments and reforms as compared to the rest of the country.
Mr. Zubair Motiwala answered this question saying that Sindh refused to accept the amendments which were passed out before, but now steps are being taken to implement the same reforms and amendments as the rest of the state.
A representative from DAWN News asked the speakers onstage how the rule of democracy and bureaucracy be reconciled in Pakistan?
Mr. Qureshi responded by saying that America is a prime example of a developed country where bureaucracy and democracy go hand-in-hand and there is no reason why it can’t be done in Pakistan either.
Mr. Memon spoke of the will of the government in advancing corruption. Using Mr. Motiwala’s example of the trade between India and Nepal, he said that Nepal complies and cooperates with India because the country is weak in comparison. But why is Pakistan making its own stance weaker?
Another guest wanted to know if checks were being kept on the number of cars being used by government officials and also on the recent 16% increase in taxes, which he personally experienced in coffee shops he frequently visits.
Mr. Qureshi cleared this point and said that everything is checked upon, including the number of cars a civil servant uses, up to the recent tax increase. He said that even restaurants like B.B.Q Tonight charges a 16% tax.
After the question and answer session, Dr. Suddle was invited to give his concluding address. He started his speech by saying that many a volume has been written on corruption, not just in Pakistan, but world-wide. He commended TI-P on its valiant efforts and encouraged the organization to continue with its activities. He encouraged the audience to give their suggestions for making Federal Tax Ombudsman office more effective. Referring to the NCPS 2009, Dr. Suddle said that although the public sector’s increase in corruption is a noted fact, it is only a drop in the ocean of corruption because the macro level of the corruption scale is unfathomably immense. He was of the opinion that it is the macro corruption level which needs to be addressed and resolved, more so than petty corruption. He also said that corruption prevails in federal, provincial and other agencies of Pakistan. He said that white collar crime is ten times more costly than any other crime prevailing in the country. He said corruption can only be eradicated when law is implemented in its true sense and no body is spared even if he is a judge, minister, MNA, MPA prime minister or Ombudsman.
After Dr. Suddle’s closing address, Mr. Arshad A. Zuberi presented plaques to the speakers, and a closing address was given by Mrs. Mirza, who thanked all the speakers and attendees for giving their time and valuable input in the seminar.
An invitation for partaking of refreshments arranged at the venue was then given, and the seminar ended on a bright and hopeful note for a better future for Pakistan.