PRESIDENT SHOULD FORM COMMISSION Graft allegations deserve judicious handling M. Shahidul Islam The already wobbly political edifice, characterized by opposition's seeming unwillingness to join the parliament and the deteriorating governance, is bound to become further dysfunctional if public officials are allowed to seek with impunity illegitimate personal gains through bribery, extortion, graft and other forms of kickbacks. Despite such ill-doings being pervasive for ages, albeit behind the scene, the only way to address exposed incidents of immoralities is to initiate impartial public inquiry to clear the fog. Failing to do so have often resulted in the collapse of the political regime in functional democracies while, experience shows, it is the extra-constitutional forces which have taken advantage of such exposed wrongdoings in countries like Bangladesh. $5 million scandal Lately, a startling exposure in one of the vernacular dailies had graphically illustrated the tale of a five million dollar kickback received from the US-based oil conglomerate Chevron in return for offering contract for the installation of a compressor plant at Muchai, worth Taka 370 crore (US$52.70 million), without following due process. The tantalizing exposure has since been ruffling feathers across political divides, due mainly to the credibility it had gained subsequently and the fact that the contract itself has virtually been doled out to Chevron without even inviting a tender. More ruckus, however, are the names of the alleged people who took the bribe. The revelation categorically named towering luminaries like Sajib Wazed Joy - the roving businessman son of PM Sheikh Hasina - energy affairs adviser Dr. Towfiq Elahi Chowdhury, PM Sheikh Hasina herself, state minister for energy Brig. Gen (retd) Enamul Hoque, energy secretary Mohammed Mohsin and the former Petrobangla chairman, Maj (retd) Muktadir Ali. The worst part of this tittle-tattle is that the energy affairs adviser, TE Chowdhury, is accused in the exposure of having personally paid US$2 million on October 14, 2009, to PM's son Joy, during his visit to Texas, USA. Allegation's credibility Added credibility to the allegations stemmed from a number of other exposed facts and allied conjectures. And, one must remember that it needs more than a die-hard intent to expose the material corruption of a government in power, especially in Bangladesh, unless there are convincing and irrefutable evidence in hand to do so. In this 'most corrupt' nation of ours (according to past TI reports), no one dares to bite more than what he/she can swallow. Such an embedded perception has prompted one observer to say, "Unless some documentary evidence can corroborate the allegations, prima facie, an undertaking to expose people of such a stature is virtually unimaginable in a country like Bangladesh." Meanwhile, the exposure itself and further investigation have revealed, there exists an ongoing investigation within the energy ministry on embezzlement of public money worth about Taka 360 crores (which the concerned ministry had requested the Petrobangla on November 19, 2009, to investigate (vide its letter JAKSB/U-3BC/installation of compressor, 33/2009/902), and a public inquiry into the sham is much warranted. The ministry letter was signed by its senior assistant secretary, Md. Mizanur Rahman, who should testify its veracity under oath once such an inquiry is commissioned. It was also learnt from the damning media indictment-as well as from other sources-that the instruction of the energy ministry was responded to on November 26 by Petrobangla (vide its letter No 21, 37,51/661), which assured the ministry of its cooperation in the investigation process. The Petrobangla response, signed by its chairman Dr. Md. Hossain Monsur, however, came shy of what was needed. It passed the buck onto to the ministry again and recommended that the investigation itself be 'conducted under the ministry due to the sensitivity involved and the stature of the personalities against whom the allegation of receiving kickback from Chevron was made.' Public accountability Our concern is as much about the exposure itself as it is about the freedom of expression. Since the exposure, the government has adopted a strategy of suppression instead of ensuring public accountability. Published reports say the concerned journalist and the editor of that particular daily are now dodging attacks and desperately trying to save their lives and liberty amidst a series of threats and attacks on their persons and characters. More ominously, such despicable acts of authoritarianism have gained more ferocity when a number of senior ministers and ruling party officials publicly threatened the editor of the paper of 'unspecified consequences,' prompting the leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, to make a statement last week in support of the concerned editor and the journalist. As the plot thickens, one wonders whether that's how a 'purported' functional democracy should handle such matters of profound public interest, and, whether such behaviours of the regime can result in landing the AL-led government in dangerous legal minefield in the near future. Rule of law Although Article 144 of the Constitution empowers the executives to handle matters relating to state-owned assets, Article 145 (2) does ensure that 'this article shall not prejudice the right of any person to take proceedings against the government.' The Constitution has also ensured in Articles 32, 39 and 40 the right to expressions and exposures via media, or initiation of lawsuits to redress wrongdoings by public officials against the nation and its people. As well, gagging the press in violation of such fundamental rights can be challenged by Public Interest Litigation (PIL) under Article 102 of the Constitution while many of the corruption cases initiated during the emergency rules (2007-2008) may yet be revived to strengthen allegations against many of the politicians in general, and a number of ruling party bosses in particular. If one wonders how, the answer is simple. The Constitutional efficacy remained valid during the caretaker regime too, when the emergency rules were clamped upon the nation. That is what must impress upon the government to display maturity in handling the matter by following precedents created by other democracies. Precedents For instance, on June 22, 2009, the US Department of Justice (USDOS) has called on a veteran prosecutor to help handle a grand jury investigation into public corruption in the state of Florida, prompting a 'top-secret' inquiry relating to a Fort Lauderdale business that authorities suspect was a colossal fraud. The fiasco gained such a prominence that, on December 2, Florida Supreme Court approved Gov. Charlie Crist's revised request for a state-wide grand jury to investigate public corruption and recommend changes in state law to prosecute those public officials arrested in the investigative process. The US precedents aside, corruption and irregularities of public officials are investigated by a Royal Commission (RC), or a Commission of Enquiry (COE), in many Commonwealth nations. These Commissions are vested with considerable powers, generally greater even than those of a judge, but often restricted to the "Terms of Reference." We urge our President to form such a quasi-judicial Commission of Inquiry and appoint impartial personalities by 'Letters Patent' to look into a matter of such great importance, in order to resolve the ongoing suspicion, rumours and the controversy, as well as to ensure accountability of public officials, including those in the executive and the judiciary. If this bubbling volcano is handled differently, it will recoil and erupt like a thunder, any time. |
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