Embezzlement of Jashore education board’s money is no new tale

We are concerned by the recent discovery that a racket—which includes top officials of the Jashore Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education—tampered with at least 36 cheques and stole almost Tk 7 crore from a bank account of the education board over the last five years. Said cheques were issued to 10 business outlets—two of which had no dues with the board at all—and three board officials, according to a report by this daily. The board's team of internal auditors on October 7 found that the amounts mentioned in the board's ledger and on the cheques were different from the amounts withdrawn from the bank.

What is most significant here is the involvement of top officials in the misdeed. When the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case over the embezzlement, it accused the education board's chairman, his secretary, and accounts assistant. It is also worth noting that, as per the head of the audit team, the board's account section was "too dependent" on the accounts assistant, who went into hiding soon after the team lodged its complaint, and only resurfaced by returning Tk 30 lakh of the embezzled amount, in two phases through bank drafts.

But the involvement of top officials in the theft of public money from the very organisations they run is nothing new at all. Last year, the shocking story of how a driver working for the DGHS had amassed wealth equalling more than Tk 100 crore over his 35 years of service came out. Though the driver was sentenced to 30 years in prison for it, we doubt that he was able to pull this off without his higher-ups enabling him, while carrying out similar deeds of their own. Similarly, a 44-member syndicate of bureaucrats, politicians and officials of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) in Cox's Bazar systematically siphoned off Tk 78 crore from three development projects. In all cases, it is public money, which should only be expended for the public's benefit, that is being stolen by these corrupt officials and professionals.

While we commend the ACC's speedy investigation into the audit team's complaint, this is only one incident concerning an education board, and that itself has been able to steal a hefty amount of taxpayers' money. We would, therefore, urge the authorities to crack down on such government offices so that ill-meaning officials and employees cannot carry out such embezzlements. Moreover, the journey of these cases from investigation to conviction must be speedy, efficient, and thorough. Very often, it is the delay in justice—or the ultimate lack thereof—which encourages and enables corrupt government employees to keep bleeding the public of what they are owed.