How can some people's wealth grow over 100 times?
Former caretaker government adviser Sultana Kamal recently questioned the wealth increase of some people by several hundred times, while speaking as chief guest at the third national conference of minority human rights protection activists in the capital on Tuesday.
Her comments come on the back of recent media reports of a hundred-fold - and in some instances 1000-fold increase - in wealth of ministers, MPs and others seeking to contest the upcoming national elections on January 7.
Under the Representation of People Order, those seeking to contest for public office are required to disclose their personal wealth while filing their nominations with the Election Commission. Some of the staggering growth in wealth became apparent when the disclosures were compared by journalists to disclosures made during earlier national elections.
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According to the Ministers, Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers (Remuneration and Privileges) Act, 1973 (Amended up to May, 2016), the monthly salary of a minister, a minister of state and a deputy minister is Tk1,05,000 (from tk53,100), Tk92,000 (from Tk47,800) and Tk86,500 (from Tk45,150) respectively. They also get allowances for transportation, and residence if they do not live is government residences.
So where did they get the extra money from? And what does this say about the state of our politics and society? The Business Standard spoke to stakeholders from various spheres.
'There is no magic lamp that can get you this much wealth'
Zahid Hussain, former lead economist at the World Bank, Dhaka Office
The parliament members who have accumulated a huge amount of assets; [the assets] don't really match up with the salary and benefits they get from their employment. Even if they possess some assets, those should not exceed this much.
So, obviously, a question arises: where did they get this much [asset] then? And it is very clear that they use their power and position, there is no other magic lamp that can get you this much wealth.
It is not illegal to use power, but where and how you are using it - that matters, almost like the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. (To obey the letter of the law is to follow the literal reading of the words of the law, whereas following the spirit of the law is to follow the intention of why the law was enforced.)
Maybe there are illegal ways for them [to accumulate wealth]. They might establish a power plant or a media house, get tenders and contracts from the government for some development projects etc. These are all speculations.
The single criteria by which we can say that a democratic state is functioning is accountability. There should be a system of accountability and its enforcement. This situation proves that we, as a democratic state, don't have this system.
Otherwise, how is it possible that as an election candidate, when a person is submitting her/his income statement, there is no scrutiny or investigation on how s/he accumulated this much wealth? No one is asking them any question on this, except for the media. And if they avoid your question, you have nothing to do.
That is what it says about us - you can do almost anything here, if you can get away with it, no one will ask you anything. Because you are void of any discipline, compliance, ethical beliefs, social and legal norms.
This is not alien to human society. Corruption is the second oldest profession in human civilisation. But in democratically functioning states, the media is very powerful, you cannot just get away with your crimes.
If anything against a legislator comes out, the institutions of integrity like the tax department, the anti corruption team etc will scrutinise those, ask them questions on the person's taxation, income sources, etc.
Even in China, which is not a democracy, if a party member is accused of corruption like loan defaulting, or anything illegal, they take actions against that member. This is clearly missing in our country, because there is no operational independence of any of the autonomous institutions.
This situation is like cancer - it starts off as a small problem, attacking a small part of a system and then slowly it emcompases the entire body. At that stage you need the harshest treatment to fight it - chemotherapy or surgical extraction.
A revolutionary change is needed there. Also a system of institutional check and balance, inclusive development ideas, accountability - both horizontal (peer to peer) and vertical (hierarchical) is necessary here.
'The phenomenon calls for at least two levels of investigations for accountability'
Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB)
This is not the first time that such mind-boggling pictures of the increase in wealth and income of public representatives have been in the public domain since the provision of mandatory disclosures was created under the RPO.
Except for increasingly agonising public concern, no credible action has ever been taken by relevant authorities, especially the EC (Election Commission), the ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) or the NBR (National Board of Revenue) to serve the lofty immediate and long-term purposes of this disclosure.
One should not ignore the possibility that in some cases the rise may have taken in due process. However, in nearly every case of reported hyper-exponential increase, it is likely to have taken place by abuse of power.
The phenomenon calls for at least two levels of investigations for accountability. First, whether the submitted information is robust enough or only partial, in which case it has to be treated as concealment, a punishable offence.
Secondly, if the phenomenal accumulation of income and wealth has taken place disproportionate to legitimate sources, it must be treated as corruption, which demands accountability irrespective of status or identity.
Continued failure to ensure such accountability is not only providing impunity to abuse of power but also leading to further deepening and widening of corruption at all levels.
'The market economy has given birth to market politics'
Mujahidul Islam Selim, former president, the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB)
MPs gaining so much wealth means that the market economy has given birth to market politics. Everything is bought and sold from the perspective of profit and loss.
People are saying Member of Parliament (MP) and Minister positions are the most profitable business. As it is an easy way to make money, people want to get a nomination to become an MP.
During his famous speech in 1971, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said, "I do not want premiership; I want to establish people's rights." But this has since changed. Now it is more like "I do not want to establish people's rights, I want power."
I am a freedom fighter and during the Liberation War, there were liberated areas where there was no plundering, corruption or bribery during those times. We have to have another uprising like the Liberation War, with the support of the common people, to put an end to such a situation.
Watchdogs like the Anti-Corruption Commission sometimes summon one or two ruling party members to show that it is working against corruption.
A few days ago, a minister said that the syndicates should not be touched because it would ultimately make the situation worse. This is indirect support. There are many such examples of anomalies.
For plunderers, now is a very favourable situation. There is a competition going on between the opposing political parties to encourage domestic and foreign plunderers. The meaning of good governance for plunderers is different from what it means for others.
MPs multiplying their wealth are examples of plunder. It is not possible to have so many assets in an honest way. We want this plunder to stop.
