In the
land of my origin, very often people use a number, when talking about others or
their actions, and sometimes tag each other with the same number. Since early
childhood, I used to hear people call each other: “Hey, you 420!” Well, with
the passage of time, I started grasping the pitch of it. I developed the
understanding that it was something taunting, at times, but mostly it meant
something bad. So for me the number 420 was an indicator of bad.
When I
grew-up, I came to understand that the given number corresponded to an article
of the penal code of Pakistan. This specific article discussed and prescribed
the definition of the crime of fraud and its punishment. So, after
understanding this, whenever I heard someone using the number 420, in their
conversation, I could understand that the matter under discussion had something
to do with fraud and deceit.
Luckily, I
was born in a time, when criminals were civilized enough to just defraud
foolishly innocent people. In those good times, criminals, in Pakistan, did not
watch Hollywood movies, so they avoided automatic weapons and bloodshed. But
still, the society showed disdain towards the 420 citizens. It was always
deemed to be a bad thing to deceive someone, and social morals discouraged such
conduct.
Now, I
know that penal definitions and punishments for fraud are not limited to
Pakistan. Every country and every penal code has an article to deal with acts
of fraud and deception. For example, Section 263 of the German Penal Code, or
Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. However, Germans
and Russians do not use these numbers in general conversations as in Pakistan.
The
people, who fall under the effect of Article 420, are generally called conmen,
or scam artists. These tags hold true on a street level. But, when multimillion
or multibillion dollar corporations commit actions falling under the gravity of
section 420 (PPC), the terminology changes. It is more commonly termed as tax
optimization, collateral charges and by many other fancy terms. Luckily, each
of the countries also have criminal laws to handle corporate fraud.
Just like
the street level scam artists, corporate fraudsters are also found across the
world. They come in many colors and creeds, but they are very similar, when it
comes to deceiving people and systems.
One more
thing, common for conmen and corporate fraudsters, is the presence of legal
procedures and laws to implicate and prosecute any acts of deceit or fraud. And
if found guilty, corporate fraudsters also suffer punishments. I know, many of
you would say that corporate thieves are not punished as harshly as they should
be. But, that is a totally different discussion.
And now,
we come to the most unabated, unpunished and easiest of the types of frauds.
These are state committed frauds. And believe me these frauds are not financial
in nature. These frauds have very, very serious consequences. For example, a
scam artist disturbs the life of a single person or of a family. Mind you the
effects of street level scams wear-off very quickly, because mostly the damage
is material or financial only. When a corporation commits fraud, it effects a
larger number of people, but once again the damage is only financial. I am not
trying to reduce the significance of the crime. But, whatever angle you look at
it from, financial loss is not something fatal.
But, when
states commit frauds and deceive people, the consequences are not only in the
form of financial damages. The consequences of state committed frauds are fatal:
dangerous for life, with long lasting effects, which might last for as long as
a few generations to come.
I will not
try to list state committed frauds from the beginning of times. But just in the
last 2 decades, we can see multiple instances of such crimes. I am more than
sure that all of you still remember the fraud committed by the US, British and
NATO authorities, when they presented a student’s degree assignment, as
intelligence data, and on the basis of that false data invaded Iraq.
Now, my
friends, presentation of false data to achieve certain objectives, is the
classical definition of fraud. Do I need to tell you, how many people have died,
because of that “innocent mistake”, as termed by many ass-licking observers?
The number of victims of that fraud of 2002-2003 is still rising, and I am sure that
at least one more generation will face the consequences, before they would
start to wear-off.
In the
recent months, you must have heard or read about Turkey shooting down a Russian
jet and then providing false data to support its actions. All the so-called
radar data and warning audio-bites were fake. This has already been proven on
the basis of the decoding of the flight data recorder (FDR), recovered from the
crash site of the Russian SU-24, in Syria.
The
consequences of the given Turkish fraud, will be very grave for the people of
Turkey, first of all. Although, until now the consequences are more financial
than fatal, but the road to fatalities has been laid. Let’s see how many
generations will suffer.
Please,
trust me I have not listed all state committed frauds for the last 2 decades. I
don’t have space and you don’t have the time to go through them. But now, I
have the honour of showing you the most recent state crime, committed by
Germany. This is the cherry on the cake of deception.
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