DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says she is “taking measures” after a slew of corruption scandals — including one involving her former household servant who now travels by helicopter after amassing a staggering $34 million fortune.

Recent accusations dominating Bangladesh’s normally pliant media have involved a former army chief, an ex-police chief, senior tax officers and state recruitment officials.

“Corruption is a longstanding problem,” Hasina told reporters late on Sunday.

“These messes must be cleaned up... we have been taking measures.”

She said that included action against her household assistant -- a “peon”, or low-level orderly — who Bangladeshi media reported had previously been a water-bearer, in case she needed a drink at events.

“The man who worked as a peon in my house -- he now owns 4,000,000,000 million taka ($34 million),” Hasina said.

“He can’t move without a helicopter. How has he earned so much money? I took action immediately after knowing this.” It would take an average Bangladeshi more than 13,000 years to earn that amount.

The average GDP per capita in the nation of around 170 million people is $2,529, according to the World Bank.

Hasina did not identify the servant, but several newspapers named him as Jahangir Alam, nicknamed “Pani” or “water” , due to his old job.

The Dhaka Tribune daily reported the orderly had used his position in Hasina’s office to engage in “lobbying, tender manipulation and bribery”.

‘Astronomical amount’

The fat-cat servant report spread rapidly on social media — with opposition parties seizing on it to accuse Hasina’s administration of endemic corruption.

“If Sheikh Hasina’s peon could make such an astronomical amount of money, you can guess how much his boss has made,” said A.K.M. Wahiduzzaman, a spokesman for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main opposition party.

“The most shocking thing is he has not been prosecuted for his crime,” he added.

“He was just removed from his post”.

Since May, a series of high-profile corruption scandals have put the spotlight on Hasina’s more than 15-year-long rule.

The anti-corruption commission launched a probe into former national police chief Benazir Ahmed -- once viewed as a close Hasina ally -- accused of stashing an illegal multi-million dollar fortune. He rejects the allegations.

Washington imposed sanctions against Ahmed in 2021, for his alleged role in hundreds of disappearances and extrajudicial killings when he led a feared paramilitary force.

The anti-corruption commission has ordered the seizure of properties and frozen the bank accounts of several top tax officials for allegedly siphoning off tens of millions of dollars.

Last week, police busted a gang of civil servants selling recruitment papers before job tests, reportedly illegally generating millions of dollars.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2024