The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, but the government generally did not implement the law effectively, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices. Corruption was pervasive in politics and government, and various politicians and public office holders faced allegations of corruption, including bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) serves as the highest-level anticorruption authority, with a mandate to eliminate corruption through awareness, prevention, and enforcement. The NAB and other investigative agencies, including the Federal Board of Revenue, the State Bank of Pakistan, the Antinarcotics Force, and the Federal Investigation Agency, conduct investigations into corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering.

Corruption: On August 27, Fact Focused, a local media outlet, released an expose on retired lieutenant general Asim Saleem Bajwa, alleging he had amassed a family fortune linked to his promotions in the military. In response, Bajwa resigned as special advisor to the prime minister on information and broadcasting, although he remained chairman of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority.

On July 27, transporter groups involved in Afghanistan-Pakistan trade protested, temporarily blocking the Torkham highway in Landi Kotal leading to the Torkham border crossing. The protests were directed at local Khyber District police and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa officials, asking them to address alleged bribery and extortion, allegedly perpetrated by self-proclaimed union representatives of transporters or other private criminal gangs, at truck parking lots in Bara, an area 30 miles from Torkham, where trucks were directed to park and wait for their turn to cross the border. Civil society actors estimated 800-1,000 trucks routinely waited in these Bara parking lots–a result of backlogs caused when COVID-19 restrictions and clearing procedures slowed border-crossing traffic.

The government continued its corruption investigations and prosecutions of opposition political party leaders during the year, with high-profile actions brought against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari, and senior members of other opposition parties, including JUI-F. Opposition parties alleged these prosecutions selectively targeted their leadership.

Reports of corruption in the judicial system persisted, including reports that court staff requested payments to facilitate administrative procedures. Lower courts reportedly remained corrupt, inefficient, and subject to pressure from higher-ranking judges as well as prominent, wealthy, religious, and political figures.

Financial Disclosure: By law, members of Parliament, civil servants, and ministers must declare their assets. Elected officials must also disclose their spouses’ and dependent children’s assets. Failure to disclose this information may lead to their disqualification from public office for five years. Heads of state, in contrast, are not required to declare their income and assets. Judges, generals, and high-level officials often concealed their assets from the public. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, media proactively reported on the financial disclosures of legislators and provincial officials.

Political parties and politicians must file annual financial accounting reports declaring their assets and liabilities. The government has not fully implemented the law, and lawmakers often disregarded it. It is the duty of the Election Commission of Pakistan to verify that political parties and politicians make their financial information publicly available; the commission posts a list of parliamentarians’ assets annually.

Under the efficiency and disciplinary rules, an official must face an inquiry if accused of corruption or financial irregularities. A person convicted of corruption faces a prison term of up to 14 years, a fine, or both, and the government may appropriate any assets obtained by corrupt means.