Abdur Rahman Bodi, MP, landed in jail on the same day Abdul Latif Siddiqui, MP, was removed from the cabinet.
If Siddiqui’s removal is a sharp response to calls from many to try him for his “audacious” comments, Bodi’s imprisonment, many believe, is either an image rebuilding process of the government or just an eye-wash to hide big fishes by exposing only the small ones.
Bodi’s travel to prison however came following an order by a Dhaka court. Reports said that metropolitan magistrate Maruf Hossain sent the ruling party lawmaker behind the bars after Bodi surrendered before the court and sought bail in a case.
No worry for the `yaba’ users as he has neither been charged with smuggling the infamous drug nor sent to the high security establishment, once people used to call “lal dalan (red building)” or “shoshur bari (in-laws house)” for drug peddling.
The lawmaker from bordering Teknaf was sent to the prison in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in connection with the allegation of unusual wealth accumulation.
Still we don’t know whether the unusual wealth came through “yaba” trade. Still we are not sure whether he will be charged with drug smuggling if it is found that the unusual wealth is out of the “tablet” (don’t mix with tab) business.
But, remember that the highest punishment for accumulating illegal wealth is only 10 years imprisonment along with fine while it is death sentence in case of drug smuggling.
As drug is not considered here, let us concentrate on the ACC case.
The ACC on August 21 filed separate cases with Ramna police station accusing Awami League MP from Cox’s Bazar-4, Abdur Rahman Bodi and two former state ministers__ Abdul Mannan Khan and Mahbubur Rahman Talukder__ of amassing wealth illegally.
Bodi had submitted his wealth statement to the ACC mentioning his and his family’s wealth worth about Tk 5.2 crore. But, examining his income tax return, the ACC probe found that he acquired over Tk 16 .7 crore in last five years (2009-13) and earned illegal wealth worth nearly Tk 11 crore.
As he told the ACC that he had acquired the assets with income generated from his “export-import” business, he could not produce any valid documents, ensuing the ACC bite.
Oh, yes. The ACC, dubbed by many as toothless, had a bite on Bodi; and perhaps two former state ministers are not unlikely to experience the bites.
Yet, the ACC only last week relieved former health minister AFM Ruhal Haque from corruption charges.
The commission chairman M Badiuzzaman claimed that the ACC relieved Ruhal Haque of the charges as the inquiry officer did not find any evidence of corruption against him.
The ACC on January 22 began the inquiry into the wealth statements of seven former ministers and lawmakers after their statement submitted to the Election Commission ahead of January 5 general elections had alleged gross irregularities compared to the statements they had submitted before the previous polls.
The commission had said it would gradually investigate the wealth of all lawmakers.
Now, after Bodi is behind the bars, people will eagerly see whether the ACC really investigates into the big fishes or deploys its all efforts only after the ministers of previous regimes and sometimes couple of eyewashes like in case of Bodi.
BDST: 1930 HRS, OCT 12, 2014
