Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks as she is sworn in for a fifth time period on the Presidential Palace in Dhaka on January 11, 2024. Agence France-Presse
DHAKA — Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says she is “taking measures” after a slew of corruption scandals — together with one involving her former family servant who now travels by helicopter after amassing a staggering $34 million fortune.
Current accusations dominating Bangladesh’s usually pliant media have concerned a former military chief, an ex-police chief, senior tax officers and state recruitment officers.
“Corruption is a longstanding downside,” Hasina informed reporters late Sunday. “These messes have to be cleaned up… we’ve got been taking measures.”
READ: Bangladesh’s younger voters dream of political chaos-free future
She stated that included motion in opposition to her family assistant — a “peon” or low-level orderly — who Bangladeshi media reported had beforehand been a water-bearer, in case she wanted a drink at occasions.
“The person who labored as a peon in my home — he now owns 400,00,00,000 Taka ($34 million),” Hasina stated.
“He can’t transfer and not using a helicopter. How has he earned a lot cash? I took motion instantly after realizing this.”
It might take a median Bangladeshi greater than 13,000 years to earn that quantity.
The typical GDP per capita within the nation of round 170 million individuals is $2,529, in accordance with the World Financial institution.
Hasina didn’t determine the servant, however a number of newspapers named him as Jahangir Alam, nicknamed “Pani” or “water” , as a result of his outdated job.
The Dhaka Tribune each day reported the orderly had used his place in Hasina’s workplace to interact in “lobbying, tender manipulation and bribery”.
‘Astronomical quantity’
The fat-cat servant report unfold quickly on social media — with opposition events seizing on it to accuse Hasina’s administration of endemic corruption.
“If Sheikh Hasina’s peon might make such an astronomical sum of money, you’ll be able to guess how a lot his boss has made,” stated A.Ok.M. Wahiduzzaman, a spokesman for the Bangladesh Nationalist Get together (BNP), the primary opposition occasion.
“Essentially the most surprising factor is he has not been prosecuted for his crime,” he added.
“He was simply faraway from his put up”.
Hasina, 76, gained her fourth consecutive common election in January, in a vote with out real opposition events, with a widespread boycott and a serious crackdown in opposition to her political opponents.
However since Might, a collection of high-profile corruption scandals have put the highlight on her greater than 15-year-long rule.
The anti-corruption fee launched a probe into former nationwide police chief Benazir Ahmed — as soon as seen as a detailed Hasina ally — accused of stashing an unlawful multi-million greenback fortune. He rejects the allegations.
Washington imposed sanctions in opposition to Ahmed in 2021, for his alleged position in a whole bunch of disappearances and extrajudicial killings when he led the dreaded Speedy Motion Battalion paramilitary pressure.
High native newspapers have additionally laid out graft allegations in opposition to the previous military chief of the capital Dhaka, Aziz Ahmed. He denies the claims.
The anti-corruption fee has ordered the seizure of properties and frozen the financial institution accounts of a number of prime tax officers for allegedly syphoning off tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
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Final week, police busted a gang of civil servants promoting recruitment papers earlier than job checks, reportedly illegally producing thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
