The panic among the officials was multiplied by a news report that the anti-corruption task force interrogators have been preparing a list of other corrupt forest officials.

Sources in the forest department said there are plenty of reasons for the forest officials to be panicked as almost all of them got rich with illegally earned wealth. While visiting the headquarters and the Dhaka zone office of the department this correspondent found forest officials huddled in small circles talking about Gani and the likely omen he had brought upon them.

When asked about the present situation in the department, one of them said, "Nobody is clean in this department. Everyone from the top to the bottom is corrupt and they all are really panicking about their futures."

"Osman Gani not only destroyed himself, he brought down uncertainties on many officers," he added.

A forest department source said Gani used to draw only Tk 20,400 as his monthly salary, but the joint forces recovered about Tk 4 crore in cash, gold ornaments and documents of large sums of bank deposits from his possession so far without even scratching the surface of his landed properties.

In addition to his basic salary scale of Tk 20,000, as the CCF, Osman Gani was entitled to a government car round the clock and Tk 400 for his medical allowance. He was not getting any house rent as he was living in a government quarter. If he would get the house rent, the gross sum of his maximum monthly pay would be Tk 29,400.

Sources said the basic salary of a senior divisional forest officer (DFO) is around Tk 14,500 which will be Tk 17,500 after adding the house rent and the medical allowance, and after deducting the sum that gets deposited in a provident fund.

According to the calculation, the gross monthly salary of a conservator of forest (CF) is around Tk 25,000 including the house rent. The salary of an assistant conservator of forest (ACF) starts at around Tk 11,000 while the rangers get around Tk 8,000.

The sources said the basic salary of no forest official is more than Tk 20,000, but most of them get automatic shares of bribe amounting to Tk 1 lakh to Tk 10 lakh for each from forest wood check stations.

"Even if the CCF did not take bribes from officials and employees seeking favourable transfers and promotions, and even if he did not directly help the illegal tree felling industry, still he would automatically get a share of the bribe chain worth at least Tk 10 lakh every month from the forest wood check stations," said a source.

There are around 100 forest wood check stations, from each of which the CCF and CFs get fixed amounts of bribe money ranging from Tk 5,000 to Tk 50,000 every month. The stations at Korerhat, Dhum Ghat, Hathazari, Padua in Chittagong, and Jaliapara, Ramgarh and Ghagra stations in Rangamati usually pay the CCF and the local CF Tk 50,000 each.

Moreover, all CFs, the CCF, and his deputy also get two percent illegal share of the department's yearly development budget, the sources added.

"Even if a CF or a CCF don't get involved in corruption, they still get Tk 60 lakh a year automatically just for being the bosses sitting idle in their chairs, just if they implement a development project with a yearly budget of Tk 30 crore," said a source adding, "But if those officers are greedy they will be able to get more."

From the wood check stations local DFOs get a percentage of bribes after paying off the CFs, the DCCF and the CCF. A DFO gets around 20 percent of the total local income from bribes. Rangers and other officials including guards, orderlies, and gardeners get the rest, the sources said.

As an example, the sources cited an incident that occurred about five to seven years ago, an officer was promoted to the post of a deputy secretary but he declined the promotion.

"He is still working in the forest department in Chittagong region just to earn illegal money," said a source adding that the officer used to be a major flunkey of Osman Gani.