The utilitarian political philosopher Machiavelli said, “In politics end justifies the means.” If the end is positive, even unscrupulous means to achieve that end will find proper justification. Though this view is found to be problematic, the government in Bangladesh seems to be increasingly Machiavellian. This is nowhere clearer than in the much talked about Gatco scam case. What is important is that they are carrying out their Machiavellian project on a very weak basis. They are, one may say, trying to build a gorgeous castle in the form of a reformed Bangladesh upon a sand hill.
Global Agro Trade Company (GATCO) was appointed as a contractor for the Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Kamalapur in Dhaka city and the Chittagong Port Container Terminal by abusing power and it has caused a loss of over Tk 1000 crore to the public exchequer. This was all that could be said by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) deputy director Golam Shahriar Chowdhury when he filed the case with Tejgaon police station against Khaleda Zia, Coco and 11 others on September 2 last year.
Now one can ask whether the underlying argument of the case is based on a solid ground. Answer can only come from the close analysis of the niggling details of the case. Firstly, it was stated that the decision of the purchase committee incurred a loss of a dubious amount Tk 1000 crore to the public exchequer but the final report after the investigation has invalidated this accusation as it is now Tk 14,56,37,616.92 only. What a difference! Again, the reduction in the amount of probable loss does not increase the authenticity of the allegation. Rather it betrays a serious weakness in the focal point of the case. Moreover, who will determine the amount of profit that could be achieved by appointing another more efficient company, and how?
Secondly, several former bureaucrats and ministry high officials including former cabinet secretary Saadat Hussain, former joint chief of shipping ministry Khandaker Khaliquzzaman, former deputy secretary Abdul Matin, former deputy chief Jayonto Kumar Nandi, former joint chief of planning ministry Abdul Matin, CPA Director Kazi Abdul Momen, and GATCO Chief Accountant Mosharraf Hossain were included in the First Information Report (FIR) but they have been mysteriously dropped from the charge sheet. Most importantly, former cabinet secretary Saadat Hussain (Now PSC chairman) was the member secretary of the purchase committee. Even his name is missing in the charge sheet. Unfortuntely, these dropped positions have been fulfilled by some eight top ranking ministers of the four party alliance govt only because they were in th purchase committee They are former finance minister M Saifur Rahman, former LGRD minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, former health minister Dr Khandakar Mosharraf, former land minister M Shamsul Islam, former agriculture minister MK Anwar, former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, and former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain and Former industries minister Motiur Rahman Nizami. So if the membership in the committee is the sole reason for being accused, how can the member secretary be exempted from the list of the accused? Does it not indicate that a particular group of people are targeted by the authority for a particular purpose?
Thirdly, A Dhaka court issued arrest warrants against 12 ‘absconding’ accused including former ministers M Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Matiur Rahman Nizami, MK Anwar, M Shamsul Islam and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury. These VIP politicians were not included in the FIR. But they are chargesheeted and that is all. The judge also fixed May 22 to produce the arrestees including Khaleda Zia and the fugitive accused, including Saifur and Mannan, of the case before his court. They have not tried to flee away. Yet they have been shown ‘absconding’ in a disgusting way. Is it not an insulting slap upon the dignified political career of these so famous people?
Fourthly, arresting the VIP’s has deeply hurt the sensibilities of their supporters. The supporters of Mannan Vuiyan were locked in a clash with the lawyers even in the court premise. More significantly, the activists of Jamaat and Shibir obstructed the police’s attempt at the quick arrest of Nizami. The heavy downpour could not restrain them in their emotionally charged slogan for freeing their leader. The arrest of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia had also been not less pathetic. In bringing about solutions to age old problems of corruption, the social circumstances must be taken into account. Undoubtedly, people want to be free of the burning corruption. They will surely be happy with good governance. But they also want to have their Khaleda Zias and Nizamis by their side. The present government is failing to understand precisely this reality.
These niggling details in the whole procedure show that the GATCO scam case is not an end in itself but a means towards another end. This turns out to be clearer in the speech of Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Maolana Nizami who in a recent press conference said:
“When the court process will start in the case, my lawyers and the party will definitely face it legally. But since it does not seem merely a legal matter, rather politically motivated, political workers will obviously face it politically besides the legal means.”
The speech emphatically refers to the ultimate end of the case. Maybe it is the manipulation of the bigwig politicians to keep them off the upcoming national election. But will that end be fulfilled? Sacrificing the bigwig politicians upon the plea of a groundless graft case bodes very ill for the ensuing dialogue in particular and the election as well as the country in general. Possibly the govt is thinking of a whole new set of superhuman perfect politicians for a future government. But that is purely mythical in the sense that corruption in the politics and the country is not a contemporary issue only, it was in the ancient period also. Saying this I am not growing pessimistic. My move is rather towards a better Bangladesh to be governed by some people who are essentially humans.