The Economist - USA (2020-10-17)

The EconomistOctober 17th 2020 Asia 33

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I

n faridpur, asmall provincial town in

Bangladesh, it is hard to keep a secret.

Everyone knows not just that Sajjad Hos-

sain and Imtiaz Hasan, two brothers who

until recently headed the local branch of

the ruling Awami League, are very rich, but

also how they came to be so. Over the past

seven years they acquired more than 300

hectares of land at rock-bottom prices. Sell-

ers apparently felt that the brothers’ low of-

fers could not be refused—perhaps be-

cause they had connections to Sheikh

Hasina Wajed, the prime minister, or be-

cause complaints about them to the police

seemed to fall on deaf ears. No longer: a re-

cent criminal investigation into the Farid-

pur division of the Awami League found

that some $340m had passed through the

brothers’ 49 accounts. Along with other lo-

cal Awami League leaders involved in the

scandal, the brothers now await trial, on

charges of money-laundering.

If the scale of the pair’s empire sur-

prised many, so did the fact that it ever

came to light. Their arrest is the latest in a

series of moves to clean up the ruling party.

At the start of the covid-19 pandemic,

Sheikh Hasina berated her party’s mem-

bers for pocketing rice intended for the

poor. In July two hospitals in Dhaka found

to be issuing fake negative-test certificates

for hefty fees were raided by the Rapid Ac-

tion Battalion, an elite police unit. Moham-

mad Shahed, chairman of the Regent

group, which owns the hospitals, was

jailed on corruption charges. Last year

wads of discarded cash were found in

Dhaka’s rivers after the prime minister or-

dered raids on the city’s underground casi-

nos, mostly run by high-up officials in the

Awami League and their cronies.

Sheikh Hasina has complained about

corruption since she came to power in

2009, but has shown much more vigour in

the past year and a half, says Iftekhar Za-

man from Transparency International Ban-

gladesh, a watchdog. The crackdown, he ar-

gues, is mainly driven by the prime

minister’s hankering for legitimacy, which

is in doubt because she has squeezed the

pips out of the opposition and run the

country with a crushing parliamentary ma-

jority for the past 12 years. The scourge of

covid-19 risks further harm to the govern-

ment’s standing. Making a song and dance

about corruption diverts voters’ attention,

says Mr Zaman, and suggests that the

Awami League is, as it claims, “working in

A crackdown on crooked politicians

hints at a culture of venality

Corruption in Bangladesh

Land of land-grabs

O

n the fenceof the building housing

Kyrgyzstan’s parliament and the office

of the president, which protesters stormed

last week, hangs a disconsolate handwrit-

ten sign: “In autumn, leaves should fall,

not the country.” Many locals fear that Kyr-

gyzstan is on the brink of chaos, after Soo-

ronbay Jeyenbekov, the president, ten-

dered his resignation on October 15th. He

was on the defensive after protests had

erupted over a parliamentary election

marred by systematic vote-buying. He had

the election annulled and accepted the res-

ignation of the prime minister, but had in-

tended to stay on himself until the country

was “back on the path of lawfulness”. His

change of heart suggests he sees little hope

of that now. Instead, he simply said he was

hoping to avoid bloodshed by going.

The government has been left in the

hands of Sadyr Japarov, the new prime

minister, who was sprung from prison by

his supporters during the post-election

unrest, cutting short an 11-year sentence for

kidnapping. Attacks on rivals by his thug-

gish followers have raised fears of mob

rule. By law, the parliamentary speaker acts

as president until new elections can be

held. But if Kanat Isayev, who is loyal to Mr

Jeyenbekov, were also to step aside, as Mr

Japarov’s supporters have been demand-

ing, the prime minister would become the

acting president.

Mr Japarov, an ex-mp, brushes off accu-

sations that he has criminal connections as

a bid to “blacken” his name. But Omurbek

Suvanaliyev, a security official ousted dur-

ing the drama, warns that “the underworld

has the upper hand over politicians”. The

American government has issued a state-

ment saying it is important to “fight

against the influence of organised crime

and corruption in politics”.

On October 9th Mr Japarov’s supporters

attacked a rally in support of liberal politi-

cians. Tilek Toktogaziyev, an entrepreneur

who was also vying for the job of prime

minister, was knocked unconscious. An

unknown gunman took a pot-shot at Al-

mazbek Atambayev, an ex-president also

sprung from jail by supporters during the

unrest. Mr Japarov asserts that Mr Atam-

bayev—who is back in prison, where he is

serving a sentence on corruption charges

that he claims were politically motivated—

staged the attack himself. Getting the hint,

mps from the outgoing parliament chose

Mr Japarov as prime minister, although

some complained of intimidation. As for

his conviction, the Supreme Court has,

with lightning speed, ordered a review.

The prime minister’s supporters con-

tinue to flex their muscles with noisy ral-

lies in Bishkek, the capital. The unenviable

fates of Kyrgyzstan’s ex-presidents—one in

jail; two, toppled by popular protests, in ex-

ile—must be on Mr Jeyenbekov’s mind.

Those who protested in favour of cleaner

elections, meanwhile, must be wondering

how their complaints led to this. 7

BISHKEK

The president resigns as a convicted kidnapper takes charge

Politics in Kyrgyzstan

From prison to power in a week