Osman Gani is known to have had a reputation for corruption since joining the forest department but he knew the trick of keeping his superiors happy during the tenure of all the past three governments. Finally, once at the helm of his own department he let loose a reign of corruption through a nexus of criminals who went around various forest ranges looting the resources to amass wealth. It is now evident that a sizeable portion of the loot reached his quarter at the end of the day. The litany of charges against him seems to be endless ranging from pocketing money for promoting and posting officials to selling off valuable trees. He is indeed a classic case of gatekeeper turning a poacher.

Osmany Gani and many others like him in the various government offices have enjoyed a free-for-all during the tenure of the past political governments. And before the very eye of the administration they have accumulated wealth beyond their legal means of earning. These corrupt officials have defied all government rules and code of conduct, let alone ethics and morals, to promote and patronise corruption in the respective departments. We have reasons to believe that such organised gangs of looters of national resources remain largely unscratched even though there are occasionally startling revelations of some of their misdeeds.

The case of the chief conservator of forests should be taken as an indicator of the scale of corruption existing in the government offices. It clearly spells out the necessity to launch a cleansing drive in these offices at the earliest.