Perpetuating political corruption
IT'S increasingly becoming a tradition that if opposition politicians are charged for illegitimate personal gains through bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, tax evasion, and embezzlement by the party in power, their cases can be tossed out on considerations of being politically motivated when the aggrieved party returns to power.
For example, the BNP government withdrew 76 cases against former MP Narisuddin Pintu. He's back in legal jeopardy again on charges of being an alleged accessory to the Pilkhana carnage. No sooner had he entered his prison cell, former chief whip Delwar Hossian, who may himself be whipped for his own alleged indiscretion of embezzling public funds and state owned household appliances, claimed that the charges against Narisuddin were political repression and demanded his immediate unconditional release.
Labelling corruption charges against cohorts by the party people as being politically motivated is a common phenomenon in all dysfunctional political systemsBangladesh is no exception. Some recent examples are:
New Delhi (INS) -- February 14: Corruption charges against Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala state secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), are politically motivated, rejecting Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan's demand for action against him
Maldives -- May 25: Maldives's MP and deputy leader of the People's Alliance, Ahmed Nazim, dismissed the charges of misappropriation of state funds against him as being politically motivated.
Kabul (ANI) -- March 27: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai claimed that the accounts of widespread corruptions within his government are exaggerated and politically motivated.
London (AFP) -- October 23, 2008: Two-year corruption sentence against ousted former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was claimed as politically motivated.
Washington D.C. -- October 28, 2008: Corruption charges against the president of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, was claimed as a case of political interference against him.
These are mere snapshots of cases that are occurring everyday across many nations. But the scale and scope of those are minuscule compared to the bulk of cases in Bangladesh. For example, during BNP's 2001-06 rule, 5,888 of the 17,000 cases filed by the preceding AL government were considered politically motivated and, hence, were withdrawnan unprecedented act of injudiciousness.
What we're witnessing now is déjà vuas many as 2,781 applications have been submitted to the Dhaka district magistrate for preliminary review for withdrawal as "political harassment and motivated" cases filed over the last BNP and CTG regime.
Not surprisingly, Khaleda Zia's sons, Tarique and Arafat, have also become equal opportunity applicants for withdrawal of 20 cases filed against them during the CTG rule. The public prosecutor has already given opinion for withdrawal of 214 cases, which are waiting for the home ministry's actions.
Who'll have the last say on these cases? Following the BNP government's "show and tell" review committee, the AL government on February 17 also formed a similar committee to review the casesespecially the ones against politicians. The committee is headed by state minister of law Quamrul Islam, and includes cabinet and state ministerssurprise, surprise.
Why form a committee with your own people, or have public prosecutors review the cases instead of an independent judicial commission? Doesn't it look gratingly insincere, and like a burlesque of justice? Yes, it doesbut so what? BNP did it too.
While some of the cases against AL politicians framed by the BNP may have been politically motivated, how can the cases brought by the non-partisan CTGwhich displayed no political ambitionbe treated as politically motivated; they may, instead, be labelled appropriately as "political corruption reduction motivated" casesand what's wrong with that.
Some wrong, in terms of excesses, misidentifications, and non-arrest of many true "corrupticians" has become obvious now. But how could the cases already legally tried be recommended for withdrawal as politically motivated cases? What would be judicious, though, is institution of an independent judicial commission to scrutinise all cases against politicians. Otherwise, the merry-go-round of "committee reviews" for withdrawal of self-proclaimed "politically motivated" cases with regime change will continue and political corruption will simply be perpetuated.
The prime minister must have recognised these "corrupticians," which may have been manifested in her decision to keep them out of the cabinet. But, don't forget, many of these "corrupticians' " family members and close relatives became multimillionaires during their time in power and influence. Therefore, withdrawal of their cases won't remove the stigma and we will immortalise them in our way.
As an antidote to this melancholic situation, I have started writing a book titled Perpetuating Political Corruption, in which one chapter will feature the profiles of all recent "corrupticians," especially those bigwigs who escape incarceration under the mocking cover of "politically motivated harassment."
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