DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says she is “taking action” after a series of corruption scandals, including one involving her former domestic maid who now travels by helicopter after amassing a staggering $34 million fortune.
The recent allegations dominating Bangladesh's normally docile media involve a former army chief, a former police chief, senior tax officials and state recruitment officials.
“Corruption is a long-standing problem,” Hasina told reporters on Sunday evening. “These disasters need to be stopped… We have been taking steps.”
She said that included action against her domestic helper — a “peon” or low-level orderly — who Bangladeshi media reported had previously been a water carrier, in case she needed something to drink at events.
“The man who worked as a labourer in my house now owns 400,000,000 Taka ($34 million),” Hasina said.
“He can't move without a helicopter. How did he make so much money? As soon as I heard about this, I took immediate action.”
It would take an average Bangladeshi more than 13,000 years to earn that amount.
The average per capita GDP in the nation of about 170 million people is $2,529, according to the World Bank.
Hasina did not identify the servant, but several newspapers named him as Jahangir Alam, nicknamed “Pani” or “water” because of his former job.
The Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported that the orderly had used his position in Hasina's office to engage in “lobbying, bid-rigging and bribery”.
'Astronomical amount'
The fat servant report spread quickly on social media, and opposition parties seized on it to accuse Hasina's administration of endemic corruption.
“If Sheikh Hasina's pawn could earn such an astronomical amount of money, you can guess how much her boss must have earned,” said AKM Wahiduzzaman, spokesman for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main opposition party.
“The most shocking thing is that he has not been prosecuted for his crime,” he added.
“He has just been removed from his position.”
Hasina, 76, won her fourth consecutive general election in January in a vote with no genuine opposition parties, a widespread boycott and a major crackdown on her political opponents.
But since May, a series of high-profile corruption scandals have put the spotlight on his 15-year rule.
