Suranjit Sengupta's Resignation Not Accepted – Sheikh Hasina Did It Right
Commentary by Sukhamaya Bain
The Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina did it right by not fully accepting the resignation of Suranjit Sengupta from her cabinet. It is only appropriate that Mr. Sengupta gave up the charge of that Railway Ministry temporarily, while some employees under him are being investigated for possible bribery charges against them.
However, some employees being found with a stash of cash is not adequate by itself, anywhere in the civilized world, to charge the boss for a possible crime. It is good that the system in Bangladesh maintained that standard by not charging Mr. Sengupta.
Mr. Sengupta's former Assistant Personal Secretary (APS) and two other Railway employees, who were found with the cash, are being investigated by the system in place in Bangladesh. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of Bangladesh has recently asked the former APS to show proof of the source of the money (Tk7,000,000, which is equivalent to about $88,000).
So far so good; the investigations should uncover the truth, and the system in Bangladesh should punish anyone found guilty. If the minister is guilty, it would probably be the end of his long political career, in addition to the specific punishments that he should get for the crime.
Historically speaking, Bangladesh has an extremely poor record of having religious minorities in positions of power. There is no shortage of people in power there, who do not like a religious minority, such as Mr. Sengupta, as a minister. Mr. Sengupta's life-long political career has been corruption-free. It would be no surprise if this is proven to be a conspiracy against him.
Of course, corruption is a core problem in Bangladesh. Even judges can be bought with money there. We just need to wait and see what comes out of the investigations, and then make our own judgments on the alleged criminals and on the investigations. This would certainly be a challenging and remarkable test-case for Bangladesh.
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