Corruption alleged at heart of PMO
David Bergman
The leaked United States embassy cables, written after the Awami
League came to power in January 2009, contain remarks alleging that
individuals, directly working in Sheikh Hasina's office including both
one of her advisers and one of her most senior secretaries, have been
involved in corrupt activities.
The cables, published in August by Wikileaks, also show that only
seven months after the Awami League had come to power, the US
Ambassador was already directly warning the prime minister that the
levels of corruption in the country were 'rising' and was 'tarnishing
Bangladesh's image.'
In a cable written on February 26, 2009, soon after the election of
the current government, James F Moriarty, the US ambassador in Dhaka
at the time, wrote sketches of some of the key people surrounding the
new prime minister.
In one of the nine sketches of different people, HT
Imam, appointed immediately after the elections by Hasina to be her
adviser on public administration, is described by the ambassador as
having 'a reputation for being corrupt.'
Moriarty's comment on Imam, who as an adviser has the same status as a
minister is a more direct link to illegal activity than the already
much publicised description of Syed Abul Hossain, the communications
minister, as being 'less than honest,' made in another US embassy
cable,
Since its publication, Hossain has been fighting for his political
life, most recently asking Transparency International to undertake an
audit of his ministry and inviting the Anti Corruption Commission to
hold advocacy meetings there.
In the February 2009 cable, Imam was the only person whose
biographical sketch described any controversial characteristic.
The cable, which concluded that 'Hasina's choice of advisers
illustrates that personal loyalty is of utmost importance to the prime
minister, even outranking experience,' does not, however, provide any
further information to substantiate the allegation.
The cable describes Imam as a 'trusted adviser' to the prime minister,
whose recent appointment 'was seen as a reward for his key role in
helping the party prepare for the 2008 elections.'
The cable goes on to say, 'Imam's family's loyalty to the Awami League
contributes to Hasina's trust; his son's friendship with former DGFI
director general Golam Mohammad provided a link to the military during
the state of emergency … [and] his nephew is a USAID foreign service
officer.'
It adds that 'Hasina has recently charged Imam with leading a special
cell to address Bangladesh's energy problems and implement development
projects.'
New Age tried to obtain a comment from HT Imam to the allegation set
out in the US embassy cable, but repeated calls to his mobile and
residential numbers went unanswered.
Corruption in the Prime Minister's Office was raised again by Moriarty
in a cable later in the year when he gave Hasina a direct warning
about a senior secretary in her office who, he claimed, was involved
in trying to stop Biman's agreement to buy some planes from the US
company, Boeing.
In a cable describing a meeting which he had with the prime minister
on September 9, 2009, the ambassador stated that 'Boeing's deal to
sell aircraft to Biman was under attack from vested quarters.'
In a section of the cable titled 'Breaking the grip of corruption,'
the ambassador states that he 'frankly told the [prime minister] that
in this and other instances where US companies faced problems…, we saw
the hands of rent seeking and obstructionist elements in the
bureaucracy.'
The cable then says that the ambassador told Hasina, 'A symbol of this
phenomenon was the [her] own Secretary, Molla Waheeduzzaman, who had
been involved in attempts to scuttle the Boeing deal and who had
helped to kill an Export Processing Zone in Chittagong.'
The cable continues: 'The ambassador reminded the [prime minister]
that Molla had attempted to defraud the US government when he
absconded from a DS-ATA funded training programme in 2008. While Molla
had repaid almost USD 9,000 to the USG [US government] (raising
questions about his ready access to large amounts of foreign currency)
his behaviour then and since raised important questions about his
suitability for such high office.'
Moriarty also wrote in a related section titled, 'Business interests
threatened by corruption,' that he 'emphasized [to the prime minister]
that the Boeing deal had been conducted in a transparent manner and
was in the best interests of Biman and Bangladesh. If the deal were
reopened, that would have a chilling effect on the business climate
and send the signal that all deals were open for renegotiation.'
Almost two months later, on November 5 2009, the ambassador again met
Hasina — this time with Molla, who was also a member of the Biman
board, in attendance — where the issue of the Boeing deal was again on
the agenda.
In an apparent reference to the September meeting, the ambassador
noted in the cable that he had already 'made clear to the [prime
minister] his acute distrust of Molla' who the diplomat said was
consistently trying to scuttle the Boeing sale 'in apparent efforts to
personally profit off the deal.'
The cable also sets out how, at the November 5 meeting itself, the
ambassador thought that Molla was misinforming the prime minister on
details of the Biman-Boeing Deal.
The cable says, 'In response to the ambassador's reassurances
regarding Boeing's aircraft sale, the prime minister's cabinet
secretary Waheeduzzaman Molla told her, in Bangla, that a related
leasing deal might be "failing" because of "new conditions" presented
by the leasing agent Euro-Atlantic.'
The cable then quotes the ambassador as saying that the embassy had,
after the meeting, followed this issue up with Boeing which told him
that in fact, 'the lease arrangement has been finalised to the
[Bangladesh government's] satisfaction.'
It is not known whether following the comments by the ambassador, the
prime minister undertook any inquiries into Molla's conduct.
Molla told New Age that the claims made by the ambassador in the
cables were 'totally false, baseless and concocted.'
'As a Biman board member, my purpose is to implement the decisions
taken by the board. The decision to buy the aircraft was taken by the
caretaker government, and I was not part of the board decision. I have
no objections to Biman buying Boeing planes and Biman will receive a
plane this coming October,' he added.
In relation to the repayment of the $9,000, Molla told New Age that he
is a diabetic patient and when he arrived in Washington to take part
in the meeting he fell ill, informed his embassy, and then went to
stay with his brother to recuperate. 'Moriarty said that the visit was
paid with US money, so I paid the money back.' He said that he this
amount of foreign exchange available as he 'borrowed the money from
his relatives.'
The Dhaka embassy cables show that it was as early as July 2009 that
the US embassy first began to voice its concerns about corruption
directly with Hasina.
In a cable dated July 14, the ambassador wrote that two days earlier
he had told Hasina that government corruption, along with crime, was
rising and 'was tarnishing Bangladesh's image.'
After setting out his concern about bureaucratic inertia, the cable
reports that the ambassador told Hasina that '[o]f deeper concern…
were reports from US business of harassment by [Bangladesh government]
and Awami League officials.'
The Ambassador then described the plight of American SuperSpecialty
Hospital, a US-backed hospital located at Uttara, Dhaka.
'[S]ince January a member of the Awami League presidium and an Awami
League member of parliament had harassed the hospital staff and
threatened to take over the venture,' the cable stated.
The name of this person was not mentioned in the cable and it is not
known if the ambassador told Hasina the identify of that person.
The senior US diplomat went on to describe to Hasina how 'the
officials had forced the hospital to hire a doctor who then nearly
killed a patient by administering an incorrect dosage of medicine.
When the hospital fired the doctor, [the Awami League presidium and
Awami League member of parliament] claimed the hospital favoured only
doctors affiliated with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP) and discriminated against supporters of the Awami League. The
doctor's complaints had resulted in a parliamentary investigation of
the hospital.'
At the end of the cable, the ambassador states, 'Unfortunately, there
are few who will tell the truth to the prime minister about the
failings within her administration.'
In a cable written, six months later on 13 December 2009 to mark the
first anniversary of the Awami League government's time in power,
Moriarty appears less critical of government corruption, writing that
Hasina has 'run a relatively corruption-free cabinet.'
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/frontpage/33790.html
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