This is not a disquisition on the richest man in Pakistan, whomever that may be, nor is it the picayune task of exposing the baseness of the means of amassing that fortune. What is the kerfuffle about anyway? It is not as if there in any concept of retribution in the Pakistani justice system. Corruption is, unfortunately, becoming a norm so that the common man takes any fresh breaking news of massive embezzlement in stride. In fact, the corrupt are now idolised in the country as artful and tactful. The hope that the last rites of the corrupt are being read in Pakistan was ignited over the past few weeks and the rumour mongers continue to vehemently add fuel to this particular fire but the end result, to date, is absolutely nothing. Having arrived at the conclusion that the eradication of corruption should be the prime directive of any Pakistani government, even before the amelioration of load shedding, aggrandisement of foreign exchange reserves, snowballing GDP growth and whatever else anyone can dream up, the utter failure of all the so-called pillars of governance to check the inexorable rise in corruption is absolutely depressing.In spite of the complete and utter failure of the state to control corruption, the flurry of related political scandals on the idiot box has reached a remarkable frenzy. There seems to be a method to all this madness, almost reminiscent of the good old James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies. The villainous media tycoon had planned to start a world war simply to create breaking news and he might even have succeeded if not for the ever resourceful 007. What is rather confusing in Pakistan’s context is exactly who is assisting the media in the creation of prime time television.Right about now the zealots will object to the term, “creation of prime time”, stressing a larger purpose for recent events. With due apologies, nothing is happening except breaking news. Let us look back at the raid on Nine-Zero and, till this point, disputed discovery of a treasure trove of weapons, the tale of the model and her sponsors, the rangers raiding again, the case of the missing murderers and the present sterling’s in the UK, the dramatic disclosure about political aid from an enemy country, the ex-president blowing his top and numerous other scandals that one has completely forgotten about and have largely become irrelevant for the camera eye. In all these and dozens of financial scandals before them, nothing happened other than breaking news.It seems that no one at the top is interested in ending corruption in Pakistan; it can definitely be concluded that nobody in the democratic setup wants corruption to go away since eight years were much more than sufficient for any such initiative. And since has become apparent that the worst scenario, if one is unlucky enough to get implicated in a corruption scandal, is a few months in exile in Dubai or London, everybody is aspiring to be corrupt and rich. Times have surely changed from the days of Babylon. In his 1926 masterpiece, The Richest Man in Babylon, George S Clason lays down the five laws of gold, none of which has anything to do with graft, skulduggery or under-the-table palm greasing.For those who might not have come across the book, which is less than 100 pages and can be read in an afternoon, albeit understood only by the fortunate, and are extremely curious about advice from The Richest Man in Babylon, it is simple but not easy: The first step, even before laws kick in, is to be honest and diligent with your profession, occupation or employment; in other words, work hard to the best of your ability. The first law is: a part of all you earn is yours to keep. Gold will come to any man who puts away not less than a 10th of his earnings to create an estate for his future and that of his family. This is the hardest law; I personally could never get beyond this and on to the second law!Saving a 10th of one’s earnings requires extraordinary will power and superlative discipline, and perhaps is rightly identified as the first step towards becoming rich. The second law is investing on the advice of men who have the qualification and experience of finance and investment. This law is accompanied by an interesting parable about whether advice on health would be acceptable from anyone other than a doctor. So why risk one’s life’s savings on a tip from an acquaintance? Always make efforts to understand personal investments and do not gamble.Dear readers, recall that till a couple of decades ago, this advice from The Richest Man in Babylon was reiterated by older generations in Pakistan: live within less than your means and save for the future. The elders may not have been rich in the material sense but this advice was definitely farsighted. Nations with high levels of personal savings, such as China and Germany, rule the economic landscape. So, when was the last time that anyone in Pakistan recommended controlling expenditure and saving for the future? Give it a try, diligently set aside 10 percent of your earnings and see whether it works.Contrarily, this difficult path can be ignored and advice might be sought from today’s richest man. To put forward a conjecture, the advice would be something like this: think up a con that can ensure a fortune in one go, put all your energy into borrowing, by hook or by crook, the base funding needed for the con, bribe the functionaries necessary for implementing the con and then implement the con that may even entail cheating the entire nation but kill that stupid conscience. If the con succeeds, think up a bigger con. If the con fails, stop worrying about paying your debts, disappear to a foreign land and think up another con. Someday lady luck will come a calling. In short, the nation needs to decide which rich man to listen to and whether to fight corruption or idolise the corrupt. The writer is a chartered accountant based in Islamabad. He can be reached at syed.bakhtiyarkazmi@gmail.com and on twitter @leaccountant