Interest waived, club bills paid

IN the golden olden days our fathers used to say that you could get away by doing anything in this country only if you had mamar jore (uncle power). This was not mere oratory. There was substance there and we realise the full potency of it today, ever more than our fathers did at that time, when corruption was only at its nascent stage. Our mamar jore has elevated us to the highest level, almost to the level of omnipotence. Now everything gets done like magic. Here is what a classic case would look like.

With mamar jore, archetypal nephew Haris Mian, a school-dropout-turned-banner-writer-turned-school-committee-member-turned-UP chairman from remote Bariakanda got intimidating sums of money sanctioned from a nationalised bank to set up an industry. He has no education, no experience, no collateral security and above all no personal integrity that are required to qualify for a loan worth millions of dollars. Yet, it took only three months for his project to be approved and the money to reach his account. For lesser humans it usually takes two years.

Once Haris Mian found colossal sums transferred to his account he began to feel like a king. He immediately came to Dhaka and bought a house in Baridhara and with the support of his mama, became a member of as many private clubs as possible. He discovered the aram and ayesh that he longed for while milking cows in his village. He developed a taste bud for the best whiskey in the world, and he never rode a car that had a twin in the city.

Then one fine morning, when he was about to yawn away last night's alcoholic stupor, a not-so-fine letter came from the financing bank. It said in clear terms that he had to pay a substantial amount of money as interest on the loan he took. He has not paid a single amount so far. He did not like the audacity of the bank manager. He contacted his mama. What followed from there on came in the newspapers recently.

In the last eight years some nationalised banks have been "kind" enough to forget and forgive the stupendous sum of Tk.3,644 crore in the form of accrued interest on the borrowed amount that some of our illustrious politicians and businessmen were supposed to pay. Only one industry alone was supposed to pay Tk.148 crore as interest against borrowed loan. High officials were moved when they heard their "sad" stories sitting in the bar room of a local club, they cried in unison and then decided to waive the interests. Interestingly enough, the benefit of waiver was given to more defaulters during the last caretaker government in 2007 than it was given any other time. So, I wonder, why businessmen still hold a grudge against the CG!

But the classic story changes its tone and tenor when it comes to poor women like Shokina Begum. It reads something like this. She took micro-credit from somewhere. She failed to pay interest after the fifth instalment. She begged for more time. But after two/three warnings, creditwallas raided her house one day and took away her cow and goat. No power could save her, as she did not have a mama at the right place.

Then we have the classic story of retired honest men like Mr. Khabir and Mr. Dabir who got high blood pressure and heart problems trying their best to pay HBFC instalments against the loan they had taken years ago to construct a house. They pass sleepless nights fearing HBFC men knocking on the door in the morning. And the following case is real. I know of a senior honest retired army officer who had to sell off his dream house at Uttara when he failed to manage the instalment money.

None of the above mentioned lesser humans have any mama who knows his way through the catacomb of the parliament building. Hence, it is the first category of people like Haris Mian who enjoys having a blessed mama who can influence high officials to waive all interest accrued on loans. Life couldn't be more bounteous than this. My cynical friends tell me that they always come across those "poor" businessmen and politicians hanging around in private clubs every night. To drown their sorrow, they drink expensive scotch, play pool and cards at high stake and go on holiday trips abroad with family and friends.

And the cynics continue to gab. They say that if the banks had given that kind of money to the farmers to grow rice, potato, wheat, vegetables and fish, it surely would have come back with interest. If they had given the money to small-scale private entrepreneurs in Dolai Khal area, who manufacture wonderful little things in lathe machines, it would have come back with interest. If they had given the money to the workers who go abroad with legal work documents, it would have come back with interest.

But never expect it back from those club-going, BMW-driving, pool-playing, whiskey-guzzling, suddenly urbanised Rockefeller wannabees. They are corpse-eating vultures that only look like humans. They circle high above us in groups and then swoop down to feed on the corpse of the poor people of this land. Next time when you meet such a man with a project proposal in your office room, look deeply into his eyes and you will discover yourself looking into the cold eyes of a hungry vulture. Eyes never betray.

Shahnoor Wahid is a Senior Assistant Editor of The Daily Star. He can be contacted at shahnoorwahid @yahoo.co.uk