JAILED FOR BEING CANADIAN.
Akhtar Buland Rana, a former auditor general of Pakistan, was jailed this week for concealing the fact that he is a Canadian.
According to Pakistani media, Rana was handed a six-month prison sentence after it was found that he had deliberately concealed his Canadian identity while obtaining multiple Pakistani passports.
It follows only two weeks after a similar — although less severe — case in which Australian senator Larissa Waters was forced to resign after she learned she was a Canadian.
Waters was born in Winnipeg, but moved to Australia as a baby. Unaware that her Canadian birth had given her automatic citizenship, she was unwittingly in violation of the Australian constitution’s ban against parliamentarians who hold dual citizenship.
Holding dual citizenship is generally forbidden in Pakistan, and is specifically barred for members of Parliament. While Canada is one of 18 countries for which dual Pakistani citizenship is allowed, an investigation by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency concluded that Rana broke the law by concealing his Canadian nationality on several government application forms.
Rana “never declared his other nationality” and did so “wrongfully and with mala fide intentions,” the agency told a Pakistani court, according to Pakistan’s Express Tribune.
Rana’s Canadian citizenship has been known ever since his 2011 appointment, when then-president Asif Ali Zardari told reporters that it would not interfere with his duties.
Rana was ultimately fired in 2015 following a corruption investigation finding that, among other things, he had collected an excessive salary. A Pakistan government statement at the time wrote that he “has committed misconduct on numerous occasions.”
As early as January 2016, a “non-bailable” warrant was issued for Rana’s arrest and raids were reportedly conducted in the Pakistani capital.
When Rana did not turn up, this led to press allegations that he had gone into hiding. At the same time, immigration authorities prohibited Rana from leaving the country, asserting that it was standard procedure for citizens who had submitted a false passport application.
In a 2016 petition before the Islamabad High Court, however, Rana maintained that his passport applications were lawful, and said his legal problems began soon after he questioned the debt policies of then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif.