A goldmine of corruption in Chattogram
Complicity of state officials, politicians should make this case a top priority for prosecutors
It's quite alarming to know that a syndicate of former and current bureaucrats and officials of Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) as well as politicians in Cox's Bazar have systematically siphoned off Tk 78 crore from three development projects, according to the findings of the Anti-Corruption Commission's Chattogram office. The details of the heist are truly shocking. According to the 750-page probe report, 44 government officials, including 23 admin cadre officers, were involved in corruption in the three projects, making a fortune at the expense of taxpayers' money. They include a former deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar, former additional deputy commissioner, former UNO, four former and current officials of PBI Cox's Bazar unit, including the SP and ex-additional SP, and a host of others—such as seven political leaders, including Cox's Bazar district Awami League president and secretary.
The ACC report illustrates how methodical and pre-planned their activities were and how ruthlessly they carried them out. For example, for two of the projects, the District Land Acquisition Committee (DLAC) led by the deputy commissioner intentionally chose disputed sites, overlooking legal barriers. The DLAC acquired 100 decimals of land for Tk 29.29 crore for one project, and another two acres for Tk 36 crore, when all the necessary land could have been acquired for a little over Tk 17 crore, according to the ACC. In the process, it violated the guidelines under the law for land acquisition and requisition.
When it came to compensating the owners of the land, the syndicate defrauded ordinary people and denied them their rightful reparation. The group forcibly destroyed the houses of poor people and drove them out of their own land, while pocketing Tk 29 crore through payments to 15 fake owners. Posing as landowners, even the Cox's Bazar municipality mayor's family members pocketed Tk 36 crore from one of the projects.
We are truly astonished at the scale of corruption that this group was involved in. They really are in a league of their own when it comes to crime and corruption, which is why they should have no place in any capacity to serve the public—which they, clearly, have no intention of doing anyway. Through its investigation, the ACC has unearthed a goldmine of corruption, and we congratulate it on a job well done. However, the job is not fully completed yet. These people now must be brought to justice, and the process of prosecution should start without any delay. None of them should be able to escape punishment as per the law for what they have done, no matter how powerful they or their allies are. That is what the authorities must now ensure.