I’ve always wondered if putting someone like Nasir Ali behind bars for that long actually changes the system or not. From the way people talked about his trial, it felt like a big moment, because he’s connected and his family is kind of political royalty. On one hand, I think it sends a strong message that even powerful people can get caught and punished for major scams—like, the court really wanted to show they weren’t scared of anyone, even if you’ve got family in big political parties.

But from what I’ve seen and read, corruption is pretty deep in a lot of countries and just jailing one or two people doesn’t totally fix the problem. Some people say that harsh sentences just look good in the news for a bit, then things go back to the way they were. For real change to happen, the government has to keep doing this every time, not just once in a while. I think what happened to Nasir Ali is a good start and hopefully gives other folks a reason to think twice, but it’s not the whole solution. It’s like locking your door won’t stop every thief, but it sure makes your house less easy to rob.