Luxury cars duty-free
Duty-free import of cars was introduced by the autocratic military regime, but later the members of the democratic regimes also found it convenient and lucrative to adopt it. The question is: why this extra privilege where people are required to pay duty and taxes as per law of the country? Can the members of parliament pass anything -- even a hugely controversial thing -- that goes against the public interest by bringing huge loss to the public exchequer?

The adverse fall-out effect of the provision continued: many of the members of the parliament who imported the luxury cars and got them released without payment of duties, reportedly sold them, in advance, to businessmen and pocketed the windfall profit amounting to several lakhs in each case.

They seem to be clever enough as they did not formally transfer the cars to those businessmen. This is why NBR reportedly could not go after them to realize the duty and taxes. But there should be a mechanism to find out the truth for the purpose of realization of the duties and taxes.

It is already a talk of the town: was this not a dishonorable thing for those honorable members? However, NBR reportedly made some amendments: engine size limit of 3,000 cc (3,000 is also high) and time limit of at least two years as a member of the parliament were introduced. The newly introduced women members in the parliament were, therefore, deprived of this benefit.

Whitening of black money
While approving the budget, the parliament approved the provision giving opportunity to all tax dodgers to whiten their ill-gotten money by paying just nominal 7.5% duty. A bizarre decision! This was done before, and again done, despite open objections from the civil society and some trade bodies.

Indeed, the Finance Minister himself reportedly gave the impression before the budget that such a provision was not on the cards, but this was done. Nobody understands why. This certainly encouraged such businessmen who indulge in amassing black money to continue to do so at the cost of other good tax paying businessmen who earn their income through hard work.

The worst thing is that these tax dodgers pay only 7.5% while the honest businessmen pay 10% to 25% depending on the quantum of income. Let NBR publish the names of these tax dodgers. Civil society has the right to know who these people are.

Bureaucracy
Being a former bureaucrat, I feel terribly distressed to note the ever-growing criticism of the most of the members of the bureaucracy for two major ills -- corruption and lending support to the political bosses for undue promotions.

The allegations are that businessmen cannot get anything, even a good thing, done, without paying bribes to the concerned bureaucrats. An appalling situation! It is also alleged that the businessmen, more often than not, get unlawful or even illegal things done by paying bribes. This leads to huge loss to the country's exchequer. In big deals, some of the political bosses are reportedly involved and they share the bribe money. Niko gas deal, Kafco are the instant cases. The names of the involved people also appeared in the media but hardly any action by the ACC or other relevant agencies.

Unfortunately, some foreign business companies and agencies also resort to corrupt practices like presenting cars and other monetary offers including fully paid luxury foreign travels. Corruption is rampant in most of the government sectors: energy sector, communication, roads & highways, public works, Rajuk, health (including hospitals, testing labs and health complexes), post & telegraph, police, income tax, customs, and name any department, even education.

The noble profession like education has also been polluted by the unscrupulous people in the department. Unfortunate indeed! The news of establishment of unnecessary schools and their registration under MPO for political reasons, the corruption in appointments, postings and transfers of teachers in the government schools and colleges against bribes are quite common. The worst thing is the demand of bribes for processing even pension cases and the harassment that the retirees face for months and even years.

If our young generation goes through such a polluted educational system, then what is our future? It's time for those honest people to raise strong voice against them and try to stop these deadly corrupt practices.

There has been a widespread politicization of the bureaucracy over the last decade or so and that was mainly responsible for poor governance. Many of the bureaucrats reportedly do not perform normal duties; they serve the political bosses and do undue or even unlawful things for undue promotions. The news of undue or even political promotions of hundreds of officials who support a political party(s) have been fairly regular during the successive governments in the last decade. The process is continuing with dreadful consequences on the governance of the country.

This country has many who engage in corrupt practices and they unfortunately prevail in every sector of business, the professions, and politics. The time has come for the people to stand up and fight this evil which has been destroying the economy and gravely tarnishing the image of the country. All citizens regardless of their past, it's never too late to turn good, must now take a vow to do whatever it takes to remove this evil from the society. Let's seriously practice no more corruption, come what may.

Muslehuddin Ahmad is a former Secretary & Ambassador and founder VC of North South University. He is also Chairman of Citizens Forum Against Corruption (CFAC) & Civic Watch, Bangladesh.