The cost of honesty

THE humiliating spectacle of the uprooting of the nameplate of an Assistant Commissioner of Customs at his Chittagong office, allegedly by enraged clearing and forwarding agents, along with the transfer of the said official in indecent haste, has unfortunately not evoked the desired reaction. An impression has been given that the official, in the exercise of due diligence, has delayed taking action while carrying out his duties thus causing harm to both public and private interest.  

Media reports quoting credible sources, however, mention that the disgraced official, Abu Hanif Mohammad Abdul Ahad, has never taken or demanded any speed-money for his services. On the contrary, he has reportedly unearthed numerous incidents of duty evasion and in particular, identified 132 consignments that evaded duties to the tune of Tk. 43 crore. In fact, his vigilance led to the fine of the importers responsible for the major evasion. These affected and disgruntled importers were suspected to be the schemers behind the agitation of clearing and forwarding employees demanding the transfer of the Assistant Commissioner. 

The unsettlingly shameful part of the incident is that hardly a week had passed after the so-called agitation of the C&F employees that the Assistant Commissioner was transferred to the Training Academy by the National Board of Revenue. To add insult to injury, the disgruntled C&F employees had the audacity to demonstrate before the office premises in the protected area of Chittagong Port, and finally uprooted the official nameplate of the Assistant Commissioner placed outside the office.

Readers may recollect that the above unfortunate incident has been graphically reported in this newspaper under the caption 'Snapshot of Reality'. The snapshot has, in fact, highlighted our moral depravity and manifestly mocked the government. In the process, a young upright official stands helpless and cornered because nobody seems to care. 

In Bangladesh a principal factor for large-scale corruption is that upright officials committed to protecting public interest have not only been not protected and accorded the due respect, but also subjected to punishment and harassment. The irony is that under the existing law there are provisions for protecting officials in their lawful discharge of duties. 

Raising revenue for the sovereign State is a solemn task of the officials of the republic. Experts opine that but for the evasion and other corrupt practices in collecting customs duties and VAT, the internal generation of revenue and consequent all-round development could have been of a much bigger dimension. Interestingly, the deficit caused by corrupt practices was so large that in the not-too-distant past, there were talks of outsourcing the raising of revenue to an international agency as had once happened in Indonesia. 

Fortunately for us, that scenario is a thing of the past, although, much needs to be done to enhance the tax-GDP ratio. In that onerous task, upright officials like Abdul Ahad would be welcome facilitators. We need to bear in mind that the recent significant enhancement in pay and perks of officials has not altered the corruption perception in the Customs Department as borne out in a detailed report in a Bengali daily.  

The cynics amongst us may say that corruption in our society is pervasive and uncontrollable and therefore we do not need to analyse or dilate upon its determinants, contexts, quantum, and impact. However, we cannot let our young men and women join the ranks of the corrupt by promoting the lack of accountability and general acceptance of corruption as a way of life. 

Under the circumstances, it would be proper to post Assistant Commissioner Abu Hanif Mohammad Abdul Ahad so that his honour is restored. At the same time, the mischievous C&F agitators must be subject to enquiry and adequately punished under the Customs Act 1969 for obstructing the lawful discharge of duties.

The writer is a former IGP and a columnist of The Daily Star.