A GOVERNMENT employee, who joined the Public Works Department as a gardener in 1988 is a millionaire now with huge property in the capital and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed corruption charges against him on Thursday. The ACC found he owns two apartments in the capital, two cars, a duplex house, besides a multi-storied commercial building in Manikganj in the outskirt of the city. It has so far unearthed wealth worth over Tk 2.5 crore in his name and they fear the actual wealth is likely to be much more that need to be further investigated.
As usual the nexus between corruption and politics is also noticeable here. There is no surprise the Class-1V employee of the Public Works Department is also the Vice-President of the ruling party Awami League’s Harirampur Upazila unit. The point, however is, amassing wealth illegally is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. The ACC has rightly identified the culprit and brought charges against him. But the reality here is that there are many more grabbers of public money and they are big and powerful people in and around the government who have amassed hundreds and thousands crore taka breaking banks and emblazing government funds other ways. What’s happening to them?
The ACC is reported to be still at the preparation stage to seek Interpol’s help to bring back the absconding criminals involved in the BASIC Bank scam. Bangladesh Bank is yet to recover lost money from its reserves while surprisingly it is also not disclosing probe report to identify the culprits.
Cobwebs of corruption has already crippled the Farmers Bank while the launderers are roaming about scot-free. Most significantly, according to the Bangladesh Bank’s latest reports published on Wednesday – classified loans in the country’s banking sector increased by as much as 19.51 percent or Tk 12,131 crore in 2017, despite a late rescheduling spree. What is surprising is that banks continued sanctioning loans to dubious businesspeople and taking hardly any effective measures to recover earlier loans. Now the amount stands together at a staggering 74,303 crore.
We have repeatedly suggested the ACC should take credible actions against big predators comprising influential persons and powerful criminals. The ACC has taken the right step against the gardener but what we want to say is that the anti-graft body should target the big criminals. Smaller one will then liquidate in the process.
As usual the nexus between corruption and politics is also noticeable here. There is no surprise the Class-1V employee of the Public Works Department is also the Vice-President of the ruling party Awami League’s Harirampur Upazila unit. The point, however is, amassing wealth illegally is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh. The ACC has rightly identified the culprit and brought charges against him. But the reality here is that there are many more grabbers of public money and they are big and powerful people in and around the government who have amassed hundreds and thousands crore taka breaking banks and emblazing government funds other ways. What’s happening to them?
The ACC is reported to be still at the preparation stage to seek Interpol’s help to bring back the absconding criminals involved in the BASIC Bank scam. Bangladesh Bank is yet to recover lost money from its reserves while surprisingly it is also not disclosing probe report to identify the culprits.
Cobwebs of corruption has already crippled the Farmers Bank while the launderers are roaming about scot-free. Most significantly, according to the Bangladesh Bank’s latest reports published on Wednesday – classified loans in the country’s banking sector increased by as much as 19.51 percent or Tk 12,131 crore in 2017, despite a late rescheduling spree. What is surprising is that banks continued sanctioning loans to dubious businesspeople and taking hardly any effective measures to recover earlier loans. Now the amount stands together at a staggering 74,303 crore.
We have repeatedly suggested the ACC should take credible actions against big predators comprising influential persons and powerful criminals. The ACC has taken the right step against the gardener but what we want to say is that the anti-graft body should target the big criminals. Smaller one will then liquidate in the process.
