Advisor to the KP Chief Minister on finance Muzzammil Aslam has said that the IMF’s 186-page report on Pakistan is a charge sheet against the government. He said the IMF had given this report to the government in July, but the government was not releasing it, and the July report was finally published by the government in November, in the darkness of night. Muzzammil Aslam said that if the PTI government had been in power, they would have released this report in broad daylight instead of under the cover of darkness.
These views were expressed by the Advisor to the Chief Minister on Finance, Muzzammil Aslam, at a press conference held in Islamabad on Thursday.
KP Finance Advisor Muzzammil Aslam said that the IMF report raised questions about the 26th Constitutional Amendment—how judges will be appointed has also been written about in detail, and concerns have been expressed. He said the report was also delayed so that the 27th Constitutional Amendment could be passed. Muzzammil Aslam said that the government would never have released this report had the IMF not imposed the condition that the next tranche would not be released otherwise, and perhaps the IMF board meeting scheduled for December 8 was fixed on the basis of this assurance.
The Finance Advisor said that Why is the government hiding behind this report? The government should have held a proper press conference. The government holds press conferences on every minor issue, so on this matter the Prime Minister and ministers should have addressed the nation.
Muzzammil Aslam said the government should have taken the nation into confidence—how much of this report is true and how much is not—because this report has been written by the IMF. Why is the government silent on it? Muzzammil Aslam said that the report states that the government recovered 5,300 billion rupees in corruption-related funds over the past two years, which the IMF says is only a fraction of corruption, meaning these are irregularities. Muzzammil Aslam said these funds are so large that all of Pakistan’s dams could be built twice over, and government employees could be given tax exemptions for five years.
Muzzammil Aslam said that the irregularities in Pakistan caused by “elite capture” amount to 6.5 percent of GDP, which means the government could have increased the growth rate by 6.5 percent through its own resources. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Advisor said that discussions on the 28th Amendment also revolve around the NFC, with the claim that the federal government does not have funds and all funds go to the provinces. He said the federation does have funds, but the federal government itself is making mistakes, causing resources to be wasted and funds not being used properly.
Muzzammil Aslam said that Shehbaz Sharif used to claim that not even a single penny of corruption was proven during his government so what is this 5,300 billion rupees of corruption over the past two years? He said that during Shehbaz Sharif’s government there were many corruption scandals, and the recent scandals include the wheat scandal, power scandal, LNG scandal, sugar scandal, and the Audit General’s report in Punjab showing one billion rupees, what is all this then?