Benazir-Matiur fiasco: What else is in store to shame the politicians?

At the book fair Ekushey Boi Mela last year, ATM Mohiuddin Ahmed gave me a book, ‘Nalchhitir Noi Maash’ (Nine months in Nalchhiti). He had been the TNO (now known as UNO) in the Nalchhiti from 1995 to 1996. Nalchhiti is an upazila in Jhalokathi district.

The book, in a way, can be said to be a prologue to the recent outbreak of news in the social media concerning massive corruption in the public administration. The book presents certain information that sheds light on the corruption of the administration at the grassroots and how the taxpayer’s money is pilfered. Mohiuddin Ahmed retired as joint secretary in 2015.

After ATM Mohiuddin took over as the Nalchhiti UNO, an engineer colleague of his came over one day with two office files for him to sign. The files were accompanied by two yellow envelopes. One per cent of the work allocation was a “gift” for the UNO. If the work was for Tk 200,000, the “gift” would be Tk 20,000. That was the bribe norm. The previous UNOs supposed would accept this.

In order to get down to the mystery of the yellow envelopes, Mohiuddin summoned all the contractors involved with the development work there. They thought perhaps one per cent was not enough for the new UNO and were prepared to up the ante.

But ATM Mohiuddin said, “None of you are giving me the yellow envelope from your own pockets. You will simply use less bricks, sand, cement for the construction of the roads, bridges and culverts.” The contractors explained, unless they proffered an envelope, the previous UNOs would prevaricate, not sign the files.

ATM Mohiuddin then clearly told them that the files would be signed within 24 hours without any yellow envelope. But if the contractors tried to cheat on their work or create delays, the files would not be signed. In his book he even wrote about a contractor, incidentally his relation, who had not done any work, but misappropriated the entire project payment in collusion with a UNO. ATM Mohiuddin wrote, there was commission for the UNOs even in the bills for school and madrasa teachers. He halted that too.

He once paid a sudden spot visit to madrasa in the upazila. Officially, on paper, there were 34 teachers in the madrasa, but he found only 13 students. That means there were 34 teachers for 13 students! As the madrasa was under MPO, the teachers and staff would get a large chunk of their salaries and allowances from the government coffers.  This is systemic corruption. Systemic corruption exists in almost all government departments -- from the power office to hospitals, from NBR to the port.

Recently a senior official of a private firm said, "When I import goods from abroad, the NBR officers will not give me any clearance certificate if I put the actual prices of the goods. They just concoct any price and charge the tariff. This is a way to take bribes. This happens in the power, water, gas and other utility offices. Even with legitimate connections and correct payment of bills, the consumers face all sorts of hassles. It is those with illegal connections who face no problems, simply by paying the concerned persons an extra bit. So those with illegal connections and the utility service employees are the ones who benefit. The country and the people face the losses.

Recently when we saw the details concerning the massive wealth of former police chief Benazir Ahmed and the NBR member Matiur Rahman, we thought these were exceptions. Individuals may be bad, but not institutions. But the manner in which the Police Association took the liability of their former officers on their own shoulders, gave all indications that the corruption had gone deep down into the roots. When we hear that a police officer pays up to 10 million taka for a posting in Dhaka city or a police station of his choice, then we realise that corruption has become an indispensable part of the administrative framework.

In the past, administration or foreign service would be the first choice of meritorious BCS cadres. In recent times their propensity towards the police or revenue departments can be understood by the Benazir and Matiur debacle.

After the Matiur scandal in NBR, news broke out of the billion taka corruption of first secretary Kazi Abu Mahmud Faisal. All these assets were shown in his own name and in the names of his wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother and other relations. Following an appeal by the Anti-Corruption Commission, the court on Thursday ordered that the two plots of 5 kathas in Narayanganj, a flat in his father-in-law's name in Ramna, Dhaka, and 10 kathas of land in his mother-in-law's name in Khilgaon, Dhaka, be seized.

At the slightest chance, ministers of the government and Awami League leaders, reel out all the development that has been achieved. Yes, there has been development in the country. But they do not given an account of who is benefitting from all this development. Despite all this development, over 30 million people live below the poverty level. After all this development, 10 million able youth are sunk in unemployment. After all this development, 20 per cent of the people in Dhaka city live in slums. Many spend their nights on the footpaths and terminals.

Taking part in the discussions on the budget, former minister and member of parliament Kamrul Islam said, "Why does Benazir Ahmed or the goat-scam officer today fear the law? It is because they are corrupt. The allegations against them are true." In discerning the difference between Awami League and BNP, he said BNP never managed to punish their corrupt. But Awami League at various times has placed the ministers and MPs in the dock. There was a sense of helplessness in Kamrul Islam's words when he said, "We who are in politics, are ashamed by the scenario of these corrupt persons, these bank looters."

Had politicians really been ashamed by all this corruption, the country would not have been in this state. The common people get a smattering of the benefits from the development that has taken place during the Awami League government. It is the ministers, the members of parliament, the bureaucrats, the law enforcers, the mayors, councillors, the upazila chairmen and the leaders of the ruling party, big and small, who reap the lion's share of the these benefits.

When TIB or other international agencies raise the issue of corruption in Bangladesh, the government policymakers brush this aside as false propaganda. When the research institutions pointed out that billions of taka was being looted from the banks, this too was dismissed as a part of a conspiracy. And when a fractured picture of corruption is held up by the hapless media, the government says, "Do not listen to such rumours." These rumours now have fallen on their shoulders. Let's see how they deal with this now.       

* Sohrab Hassan is joint editor of Prothom Alo and a poet  

* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir