Corruption allegation against Bangladeshi minister

by Smriti Sen Gupta
February 24, 2010

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/545/corruption-allegation-against-bangladeshi-minister

In Bangladesh, ruling Awami League lawmakers, members of a parliamentary panel, on February 23, 2010 alleged that a senior minister had taken control of two government offices not under his ministry by using 'musclemen', making those public bodies 'dysfunctional' as a result. This is the first ever endorsement of corruption not by the opposition by the ruling party lawmakers about any of the ministries in the country.

The parliamentary standing committee on the communications ministry plans to take the matter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, seeking her intervention to stop such undue interference by shipping minister Shahjahan Khan and his henchmen.

"Undue interference by the shipping minister's musclemen in the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation has made these offices almost dysfunctional," said Golam Mawla Rony after a meeting of the committee in the Sangsad.

The minister denied the allegation and said the committee members were acting beyond their jurisdiction.

"They have only the authority to come up with suggestions, but they want to overturn the ministry's decisions," said minister Shahjahan Khan.

The lawmaker alleged that the minister, who also heads a labour organisation called Bangladesh Sramik Federation, is responsible for disturbances in, and extortion of money from, the transport sector.

Omar Faruk Chowdhury, also a member of the committee, echoed Rony, saying that he could not work at BRTA office to erase anomalies as assigned by the parliamentary committee.

"The shipping minister instigated his men to demonstrate against the parliamentary subcommittee members when they came up with a proposal to stop the issuing of fake driving licences by the BRTA," said Omar Faruk.

He added that the state-run BRTC bus services could not be extended across the country because of the so-called workers' interference. "They have been obstructing the state-run buses from plying various routes to protect their own interest," he said.

The meeting, presided over by committee chairman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, asked the communications minister to solve these problems immediately.

"If he fails, the committee members will take the matter to the prime minister," said one lawmaker.

Communications minister Syed Abul Hossain, who attended the meeting, assured the panel that he would discuss the matter with the shipping minister.

The chairman admitted that there is widespread extortion in the transport sector and said that the meeting suggested stringent measures against the extortionists, whoever they may be or whatever their political affiliation.
"Anyone trying to create unrest in the transport sector must be brought to book. We want to restore discipline on the roads," said Mujibur Rahman.

The meeting also formed a three-member subcommittee headed by Opu Okil to find out the ways and means for reclaiming Bangladesh Railway's lands that have been grabbed by various influential quarters. The committee estimated that there were as many as 16,000 acres of railway lands under illegal occupation by various quarters. The meeting asked the ministry to take legal action against the former public works minister of the BNP-Jamaat government, Mirza Abbas, for constructing buildings on railway lands in the capital. It also asked the ministry to demolish all the structures built on 66 decimals of railway land by the former minister in Shahjahanpur.

The meeting took up the issue of the additional chief engineer of the Roads and Highways Department, Shahabuddin, who has reportedly managed to get a fake freedom-fighter's certificate to take the advantage of the extension of the retirement age limit of the civil servants who were involved in the '71 War of Liberation. The committee alleged that the official, who had confessed to being a corrupt person before the Truth and Accountability Commission set up by the military-backed interim government, managed to obtain a fake certificate to come back to service from retirement. Shahabuddin got back his job recently after producing the 'fake' certificate.

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