Nowrin Tabassum*
Certain shares of the bribes are
allocated to the family members of
political parties while they rule the
country. For example, Arafat Rahman
Koko, the son of the then Prime
Minister Begum Khaleda Zia of BNP,
has been found guilty for taking bribes
from SIEMENS, a German based
MNC, and China Harbor Engineering
Company during 2001-2006 with bid
rigging. Another son of Begum
Khaleda Zia, Tareque Rahman, is
accused by FBI (Federal Bureau of
Investigation of the USA) and AntiCorruption
Commission
of
Bangladesh for money laundering and
bribe taking for the same case. The
amount of bribe is almost $5 million
USD.
Recently, Sheikh Rehana, the sister of
the present Prime Minister has been
found guilty in the bribery scandal of
SNC- Lavalin and the Padma Multipurpose Bridge. Sajeeb Wazed Joy,
the son of current Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina is also accused by some
unreliable sources for the recipient of
some share of bribes for the bid
rigging of the SNC-Lavalin for the
Padma Multipurpose Bridge. The
supervisory work of the bridge was
tried to be given to the Canadian
based MNC SNC-Lavalin by bid
rigging. Because, the $50 million
USD worth supervisory work of SNCLavalin offered monetary benefits to
the former communication minister of
Bangladesh Syed Abul Hossain and
some other government officials of
Bangladesh.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) convicted three former
employees of the company for the
bribery case under paragraph 3(1)(b)
14
The corruption of a country,
sponsored by the statecraft, can
explain its behavior to the world affairs
as well as in business world; and so
the reputation of the country can be
explained as such. The ruling parties,
along with some of their obliged
government officials of Bangladesh,
have a long history of taking bribes
from the Northern Multinational
Corporations (MNCs). The ruling
parties are headed by either
Bangladesh Awami League or
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
from 1990 onwards. These two
parties have similarities in terms of
taking bribes from the northern
MNCs. The similarities are stated
below:
Page
LOCAL LOBBY
Taking bribes from Multinationals:
The Bangladesh case