Black money will continue to wreak havoc on election, democracy
Reza Mahmud :
With the 12th general election in Bangladesh approaching fast amid a standoff between the incumbent regime and the opposition parties over installing a nonpartisan poll-time government, the members of the civil society are worried over the probable negative role of black money in the election.
Political analysts think the disputes about the election- time government might be solved soon, but the influence of black money in the polls will be the worst as a huge number of black money holders have already made inroad into Bangladesh politics.
According to political scientists, the ongoing patronization of black money holders in politics might endanger the democratic process of country as they have already grabbed majority of seats in the House.
They said the majority of black money holders in a parliament means that the rights and interest of the common people are undermined side by side with neglecting the democratic values.
Bangladesh National Board of Revenue (NBR) has defined the black money as being the money earned legally or illegally, but not declared to the government agencies, thus its holders avoid paying tax.
As per a study, economists estimated amount of black money in the country at Tk 10.18 trillion in the fiscal year 2021.
Professor Abul Barkat, based on his research, mentioned that the amount of black money in the country was around one third or 33 per cent of the annual GDP at market price.
Apart from these, the spree of casino incidents, arresting and recovering huge amount of money in cash, jewelries and other properties from number of ruling Awami League and its ‘associate bodies’ leaders like Samrat, Enu, Rupon and such others indicate that a large amount of black money has been produced.
Besides the casino spree, several other political influential people were held for their involvement in siphoning off huge money abroad, which is obviously black money.
For an example, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police on August 21, 2020, arrested Nishan Mahmud Shamim, president of Faridpur district unit Chhatra League, in a case filed over laundering Taka 2,000 crore.
Experts said there are many other leaders at different levels who have earned, siphoned off and concealed a huge amount of black money.
Political analysts expressed deep anxiety saying a big portion of black money would be returned and play a vital role in the upcoming polls.
Eminent political scientist professor Dilara Chowdhury told The New Nation, “The role of black money surely is causing an irreparable harm to the democratic procedures like election, but building a sustainable structure for holding fair polls is the most important matter.”
She said the country needs a strong structure like polls time government, to conduct an inclusive and credible election that will be able to contain the influence of the black money.
BNP Standing Committee Member Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told The New Nation, “Those who really own the black money are trying to hold the next polls under them, but we are not agreed to the polls to be held under the black money owners.”
The opposition leader pointed to the ruling AL as the party of black money holders.
When contacted, Awami League senior leader Yusuf Hossain Humayun told The New Nation, “Every political party should take part in the election.
The EC will take necessary measures to contain the use of black money.”
Ghulam Muhammed Quader, Chairman, of Jatiya Party told The New Nation, “There seems to have lots of money in the hands of many connected to the ruling party politics.
These black money earners would like to use this in the election as an investment to reap higher benefits.
Meanwhile, EC Ahsan Habib could not be reached over phone while trying several times to get his comment on the issue.
Experts said bad money would use on bringing illegal arms, drugs and hiring musclemen, buying vote from the lower income group voters who are the vast majority in the country defying the election commission (EC)’s stipulated ceiling of expenditures for a Member of Parliament (MP) candidate during the election. All of those will put in peril the polls as well democracy of the country.
In a study conducted by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), the anti-corruption watchdog, revealed that in the scheduled January 2007 general election that was postponed at the last moment, candidates seeking nominations had spent three times the stipulated spending limit.
The EC failed to take any measures against such violators, TIB said.
In the current parliament, as many as 182 businessmen have been elected as lawmakers in 11th general election.
This amounts to almost 61.07 per cent of the total members of the parliament, Shushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), a watchdog for good governance, revealed it before media.
Badiul Alam Majumder, Secretary of Shujan said, the businessmen and musclemen never bother about the rights and interests of the general people.
