The Mehrangate, also known as the Mehran bank scandal, was a major
political scandal
In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt, uneth ...
that took place in the
first administration of
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Benazir Bhutto in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
.
The active-duty
army officers and
ISI agents engaged in conspiring against the election campaign of
Benazir Bhutto by having it oversaw the
campaign funding of
taxpayers' money to the
Islamic Democratic Alliance (IDA) under
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...
during the
nationwide elections held in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
.
From the official
accounts of the
Ministry of Defence (MoD), the
taxpayers funding was directed and transfer to the conservative politicians to compete with the
Pakistan Peoples Party, which was much organized at that time.
The nature of the
Sharif-Beg collusion was discovered by
J. Ashraf Qazi, then-
Director ISI, who wanted to move the taxpayers' funds into another account but the banks failed to meet the requests, leading the new director of opening the investigation on missing funds.
With media investigation in this matter further grew, the scandal became public with
Asghar Khan
Air Marshal Muhammad Asghar Khan (Retd.) ( ur, 17 January 1921 – 5 January 2018), was a Pakistani politician and an autobiographer, later a dissident serving the cause of pacifism, peace, and human rights.
Born into a military fam ...
filing a lawsuit at the
Supreme Court of Pakistan
The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate a ...
against the
IDA and the
Pakistan Peoples Party in 1994. The case hearings and investigations went on for several years until 2012 when the
Supreme Court of Pakistan
The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate a ...
eventually found
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...
,
Aslam Beg,
Asad Durrani
Lieutenant General Asad Ahmed Durrani ( ur, اسد أحمد درانی; born 7 February 1941) is a retired 3-star rank general in the Pakistan Army and presently a commentator, speaker and author. Durrani previously served as the Director G ...
, bankers, and other conservative politicians from the
PML(N) responsible and guilty of their acts.
Background
After the exposure of the
first scandal by the
Intelligence Bureau (IB) in 1989,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
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Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Ghulam Ishaq Khan ( ur, غلام اسحاق خان; 20 January 1915 – 27 October 2006), was a Pakistani bureaucrat who served as the seventh president of Pakistan, elected in 1988 following Zia's death until his resignation in 1993. He wa ...
eventually used his
constitutional reserve powers that dismissed the
first administration of
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Benazir Bhutto, charging the Benazir's administration of
nepotism,
political corruption, poor economic growth, law and order, and foreign affairs, in 1990.
After the
Election Commission (ECP) announced the timeline schedule of
nationwide general elections, the
ISI methodically and systematically released taxpayer's funds to the
IDA's
conservative politicians. The authorization for the taxpayer's funds came from
Lt-Gen. Asad Durrani
Lieutenant General Asad Ahmed Durrani ( ur, اسد أحمد درانی; born 7 February 1941) is a retired 3-star rank general in the Pakistan Army and presently a commentator, speaker and author. Durrani previously served as the Director G ...
, then-
Director ISI, who enjoyed the support from
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Ghulam Ishaq Khan ( ur, غلام اسحاق خان; 20 January 1915 – 27 October 2006), was a Pakistani bureaucrat who served as the seventh president of Pakistan, elected in 1988 following Zia's death until his resignation in 1993. He wa ...
and, allegedly
Gen. Beg, the
army chief at that time. During this time, the monetary
embezzlement took place was reported around of the sum of
₨. 5.6
Bn (approx.
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
160 million at that time), and
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
39 million was later additionally deposited in the intelligence funds.
Initiated by
Pakistan Army's
Chief of Army Staff General Mirza Aslam Beg with the alleged support of
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Ghulam Ishaq Khan ( ur, غلام اسحاق خان; 20 January 1915 – 27 October 2006), was a Pakistani bureaucrat who served as the seventh president of Pakistan, elected in 1988 following Zia's death until his resignation in 1993. He wa ...
, payments of up to PKR 140 million were made by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Lieutenant-General
Asad Durrani
Lieutenant General Asad Ahmed Durrani ( ur, اسد أحمد درانی; born 7 February 1941) is a retired 3-star rank general in the Pakistan Army and presently a commentator, speaker and author. Durrani previously served as the Director G ...
via the owner of Mehran Bank, Yunus Habib. Intelligence funds were deposited in Mehran bank in 1992 propping up what was an insolvent bank as a favor to its owner's for help in loaning money to the Inter-Services Intelligence in 1990 that was used in the creation of the right wing alliance
Islami Jamhoori Ittehad
The Islami Jamhoori Ittehad ( Islamic Democratic Alliance; acronym: IJI; ur, ) was a right-wing conservative alliance formed in September 1988 to oppose the democratic socialist Pakistan Peoples Party in elections that year. The alliance compri ...
(IJI) and bankrolling the campaigns of many opponents of the PPP.
The scandal subsequently broke after the new ISI Director-General Lieutenant-General
Javed Ashraf Qazi decided to transfer the intelligence fund back to state owned banks as per official rules. Mehran Bank was unable to return the money due to its poor financial state and collapsed. It was later discovered that large sums had been siphoned off to 39 fictitious parties.
In 1995, Mehran Bank was amalgamated with the
National Bank
In banking, the term national bank carries several meanings:
* a bank owned by the state
* an ordinary private bank which operates nationally (as opposed to regionally or locally or even internationally)
* in the United States, an ordinary p ...
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.
Yunus Habib was arrested on 7 April 1994 for misappropriation in the sale proceeds of the Dollar Bearer Certificates. On Dec 14, 1995, Younus Habib was convicted of fraud and embezzlement and given a sentence of 10 years rigorous imprisonment by the Special Court for Offences in Banks in Sindh. On April 20, 1994, giving details about the payments made by Habib to generals, politicians and political parties, the then Interior Minister,
Naseerullah Babar
Major-General Naseerullah Khan Babar (Urdu: نصیر اللہ خان بابر; born 1928 – 10 January 2011) was a Pakistani army officer, diplomat, and politician who served as the 28th Interior Minister of Pakistan from 1993 to 1996. A membe ...
, told the National Assembly that the main beneficiary of his largess was former army chief General Mirza Aslam Beg who received Rs140 million.
Convictions
In March 2012,
Pakistan's Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the Judiciary of Pakistan, judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakis ...
summoned Younis Habib, (Mirza Aslam Beg), and Asad Durrani to testify in response to a lawsuit filed by Air Marshall Asghar Khan in 1996. On 19 October 2012, the Supreme Court tribunal found Beg and Durrani guilty of violating the Constitution for their roles in the bribery. Beg has evaded testifying before the court, arguing his constitutional rights were violated by the court's finding before he could testify.
See also
*
Operation Midnight Jackal
Operation Midnight Jackal, or simply known as Midnight Jackal, was a first of two major political scandals that took place in the first term of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1988–89 that was a plot of ISI's Internal Wing to ass ...
References
{{Reflist
1990 in Pakistan
20th-century scandals
Financial crimes
News leaks
Political history of Pakistan
Political scandals in Pakistan
Pakistani commissions and inquiries
Trials in Pakistan
Pakistan People's Party
Government of Benazir Bhutto
Operations of the Federal Investigation Agency
Electoral fraud in Pakistan
Pakistan military scandals
Political corruption in Pakistan
Political funding
Inter-Services Intelligence operations