According to a report published by this newspaper on Thursday, a CID probe has found that former Faridpur Awami League leader Sajjad Hossain (alias Barkat) and his brother Imtiaz Hasan (alias Rubel) amassed Tk 2,535.11 crore beyond their known sources of income. They did so under the protection, and with support, of at least eight other accused in a money laundering case, including the brother of a former minister, according to the probe. Only Tk 9.75 crore of the amount was found in their bank accounts, while the rest was siphoned off abroad.
This is perhaps the first time that a charge sheet has been submitted against someone connected to such a high-profile political family. And we are encouraged to see law enforcers going after these crooked individuals for their widespread corruption, despite their political associations. Once this family was untouchable—as the litany of corruption and wealth gathered all happened due to political protection.
These are not your run-of-the-mill criminals. Their rags-to-riches stories unfolded under political protection. And we are finally beginning to see the powerful patrons they had getting exposed. That being said, we also have to express our apprehension about whether this investigation will go to the very end—or whether there will be some political compromise or wheeling and dealing going forward, letting these people escape justice. The reason for the apprehension is simple: we have seen so many instances before where law enforcers go forward only to take a step back later. Only recently, we have seen the son of a high-profile politician being charged with all sorts of crimes, but then suddenly the cases were mysteriously dropped.
So if the government wants to claim that nobody is above the law, this should be a test case of a fair dispensation of justice. With that in mind, we hope the law enforcers are allowed to go through with their investigations without any outside interference or political pressure. Let justice take its own course.
