Question leaks: Will the ‘big fish’ finally be caught?
For years, we have urged the authorities to investigate the issue of PSC question paper leaks seriously beyond just perfunctory arrests of a few culprits. Thirty incidents of question paper leaks and a decade later, our law enforcement agencies seem to be finally conducting a thorough investigation to find all those involved at various stages of the process. According to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the syndicate of Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) officials and employees was involved in leaking questions of at least 30 recruitment tests. The investigators have listed the names of at least 24 officials currently working in different government departments, including the cadre service, who were involved in the racket, based on confessions of those arrested. The CID has hinted of involvement of some "big fish."
We are glad that these names are finally coming out, but given the way the investigations into question paper leaks have played out over the last decade, we have every reason to worry that those in the highest echelons of power will eventually get away. The CID has made arrests on multiple occasions before; how is it that they failed to unearth the major ring that has apparently been in operation since 2002? How did transactions worth crores of taka in the banks of syndicate members go unnoticed for so long? A few of those arrested now have been found to be involved in similar leaks before; why were they allowed to get away with not even a slap on their wrists? It's worth asking if law enforcement members themselves were previously involved in coverups in light of the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators so far. Law enforcement agencies must rise to the occasion to unmask the masterminds and their collaborators, no matter their identity.
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It is also time we made public the names of those who got the jobs in much sought-after government positions by buying leaked question papers. How can we expect them to serve the country over their own greed if their entry into the profession is marked by such dishonesty? Corruption is now so ingrained into our system that perhaps we no longer even know or care to know the difference between right and wrong. But to stop this country from falling into a deeper abyss, we must do more than arrest a few individuals—we need to weed out the corrupt at every stage of government service.
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