Disclosure of wealth
None of the ministers including the prime minister, members of parliament and influential people in the government have yet disclosed the details of their financial standing or any other source of wealth.
The parliament witnessed an unpleasant exchange in its last session as the legislators of both the treasury bench and the opposition Awami League traded blame regarding embezzling public wealth. Even Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and opposition leader Sheikh Hasina accused each other's families of misappropriating public wealth through corruption.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. According to a Daily Star report, the deputy leader of the opposition Abdul Hamid proposed formation of either a parliamentary body or a judicial commission to probe the "wealth accumulated through corruption" by the family members of the incumbent prime minister as well as former premier Sheikh Hasina. But the speaker did not respond to the deputy opposition leader's suggestion.
According to the Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1979, every government servant, at the time of entering government service, is required to make a declaration to the government, through the usual channel, of all immoveable and movable properties, including shares, certificates, securities, insurance policies and jewellery having a total value of Tk10,000 or more, belonging to, or held by, him or a member of his family.
Every government servant is also required to submit to the government, through usual channel, an annual return of assets in the month of December showing any increase or decrease in property as shown in the declaration submitted at the time of entering the service. This rule should also be made applicable for the ministers and MPs to eliminate corruption from the government functionaries.
The High Court in a milestone judgment passed on May 24, 2005 directed the election commission (EC) to make it mandatory for the candidates seeking election to parliament, to submit the eight-point information with the nomination form including the statement of assets and liabilities and particulars of loan taken from banks or financial institutions. The High Court should also take similar move for promulgation of a mandatory regulation as per the Representation of the People's Order, 1972 for disclosure of wealth by ministers including the prime minister and MPs, before taking oath.
Some of our ministers and MPs have been accused of corruption. None other than the Danish Ambassador in Bangladesh brought the charge of corruption against the shipping minister, and the government was also threatened with suspension of all development assistance from Denmark.
A parliamentary body on March 8 also criticised the shipping minister for a "mysterious" increase in price for building an ocean-going ship and misuse of funds for construction of a new container terminal in Chittagong. The parliamentary standing committee for shipping ministry termed the 43 percent price increase, compared to the price on the first project, as "mysterious and dubious."
Two MPs from the ruling BNP also brought charge of corruption against the communication minister. But nothing concrete has yet been heard about the inquiry made by the parliamentary standing committee on the CNG import scam in which the communication minister was alleged to be involved.
The minister was also blamed for involvement in corruption in allotment of land for setting up CNG stations. The government, however, was prompt in taking action against the state minister for energy Mossaraf Hossain for accepting a car from Niko, allegedly in a bid to manage him in dealing with the damage compensation demand for Tengratila gas field blow-out.
We should learn some lessons from India who recently proved to the world the greatness of its system of parliamentary democracy. Two TV channels aired secretly taped video footage of members of the Indian parliament taking bribes for asking questions in the House and taking percentages of development budgets of their constituencies. The TV cameras caught a total of eleven legislators belonging to almost all major parties (but majority from the BJP) and strong action was taken against those corrupt Mps.
A US lawmaker, Republican Randy Cunningham, has been jailed for seven years for taking $2.4 million in bribes from a defence contractor. Cunningham accepted cash and gifts including a Rolls Royce car for awarding contracts. Such instances of corruption are not rare in our country, but instances of punishment are.
The people of Bangladesh share a common belief that an unrestrained competition to accumulate wealth through all sorts of dubious means by the persons in power is going on in the country in the absence of watchdog institutions. Given the country's championship record in corruption over the past five years, the government should have been sincere for disclosure of wealth of ministers and MPs in accordance with its election pledges.