THE BILL O’REILLYS OF THE WORLD

Publisher and Managing Editor IKRAM SEHGAL wrote a NEWS ANALYSIS for THE NATION which we are re-producing with thanks.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is reported to have signed up with a number of assets-tracing firms for recovery of the billions that have been looted from Pakistan. Since NAB officials have been going to London and New York, the safe bet is that most of the agreements, believed to be on percentage basis without a contingency or mobilization fee for expenses, have been signed up with western firms. This is indeed very welcome news and though one has reservations about the credibility and integrity of some elements associated with NAB, one must congratulate them on this initiative. No doubt some well-known foreign firms have a tremendous capability to uncover assets, however NAB must be careful and blacklist those firms who dragged their feet for reasons unknown when they were previously employed by Pakistan.  The recovery itself will be a long, legal process that takes some dong because the accounts and assets are mostly never directly in the name of the person who stole the money but in a myriad number of off-shore firms, names of close relatives, etc.  The financial structure is done with the aim of avoiding discovery.  One owner of  US$ 500 million plus in assets abroad claims ingenuously that these are all his wife’s business and since she is British, she is not accountable to Pakistan. One may well ask, what fortune did his wife inherit and/or what business was she engaged in to successfully acquire all this wealth abroad? 

Due credit must be given to NAB for nabbing one of this country’s virtually untouchables, the owner of a huge business empire that specializes in the sophisticated evasion of taxes, custom and excise duties. Protected by a combination of bureaucrats on their payroll (including some from the investigating agencies) as well as brilliant lawyers who sell their conscience for a fat fee (and should themselves be investigated for evading taxes, since their honoraria is received in cash and mostly in foreign exchange), these characters have acquired such power and influence that they have actually managed to have a beach within the precincts of the city reclaimed using the cover of creating of a public park, probably the first in the world and without a murmur of protest from any environmentalist. Another major tax-evader who was being pursued by a previous CBR Chairman is flourishing on the basis of his “connections” in the present arrangement.  Coincidentally, these characters jointly own a major western franchise, a convenient arrangement  not only to launder black money but also to make their reputations kosher. One generation later nobody will remember how they made their fortunes.  And a government minister who knows (or should know) has the effrontery to call these people as young “dynamic entrepreneurs”. The fact  that at least one of the groups has been hauled up by NAB, despite their professed “connections: speaks well of the integrity of the accountability process, no doubt the days for the others are also numbered, subject to the influence they wield, off course.

Bill O’Reilly took a degree in Forensic Medicine from one of the Universities of California before following his father, a thirty-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD),  into the force. Entering the Academy for a 16 weeks course on August 1, 1965, he was mobilized into action two days later because of the Watts riots. Barely managing to get  uniforms and equipment, Bill found himself under fire from snipers from all over the locality he was assigned to. The official death toll for the Watts episode is 39, Bill believes that over 500 died. He himself witnessed the death of over 20 rioters in one fire-bombed liquor store alone. Six years into LAPD, with varied specialized courses under his belt such as bomb disposal, he was recruited by the FBI. As a young FBI agent his claim to fame was in serving a search warrant on President Nixon in the Oval office in 1972. He said he was awed by the experience but says the most powerful person in the world almost got a bloody nose when he pushed down one of the agents. A few minutes later Nixon, accompanied by his legal counsel, returned to apologize. That is the power of the rule of law, that is the power of the real accountability, nobody is an untouchable, whatever his own position, what to talk about a  relationship with the powers-that-be. Bill investigated the Charles Manson murders before moving to East Asia, specializing in the Yakuzas in Japan. These organized criminal gangs of Japan  wield absolute authority and influence over politicians, bureaucrats and financial institutions. My good friend Jameel Yousuf will not be happy to note that Bill O’Reilly (and a host of other Police specialists whom I met recently) consider the Japanese Police to be inept, saying the Japanese model is good in theory but  does not really work in practice. The influence of the Yakuzas is a living testimony to that. He says every country has to adopt a special system according to it own peculiar needs.  The best modus operandi would be to get experienced consultants from outside the country with experience in modern urban and rural policing to liaise with local police specialists to put together a workable system, paying for the exercise with grants that developed countries are very willing to part with to ensure an effective law and order system in third world countries.

In the mid-80s, Bill O’Reilly left the FBI to work in the private sector, setting up Kroll Asia with another stalwart Richard Post. Kroll has an impressive club of ex-employees now doing business on their own throughout the world. Eventually he went into business with a partner in setting up an asset-tracing firm in Bangkok, Thailand. In the course of his other investigation he has come across quite a lot of South Asians having business and real estate in the ASEAN countries. My question is, what is NAB doing about this? And what are we doing for the illegal wealth stashed in various Gulf countries?  One should be cautious in acquiring the services of big firms which would not give Pakistan that attention we need and then would sub-let most of their work in countries where they do not have a physical presence to smaller entities like Bill O’Reilly’s.  NAB needs to go directly to the Bill O’Reillys of this world.  He tells of a presentation two-three years ago in London prepared for  Pakistani banks for tracing out assets.  The banker, who had flown in from Pakistan missed  appointment after appointment till the meeting finally took place in a pub. By then the banker was too drunk (or drugged) to give attention. Such is our commitment to accountability that we have drunks, drug addicts and murderers going  after assets. NAB should publicly  tender the terms and conditions in magazines like the Economist, newspapers like Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, etc, inviting interested firms to give their resumes for verification and assessment country by country;  this is not a long process and can be done in days. Retired agents of law enforcing agencies have acquired many years of practical experience and contacts which NAB can exploit.  Every country of the world has many private investigators of the Bill O’Reilly mold,  in the local context of the country they operate in they are very effective.  To give one example, there is no one better in Malaysia and Singapore than Adil Naidu Abdullah, a man who has made a name for himself by producing results in all his corporate contracts. Even his wife is a virtual legend in private investigations.  Such people are honest, dedicated and give value for their money. The big boys have been tried by earlier governments, albeit without much success and one dare says, will continue to be tried without success  till NAB becomes more pragmatic in its search for illegal wealth.  NAB will show its purpose in effecting accountability by recruiting the likes of Bill O’Reillys of this world.