What went wrong for the Chief Engineer?

Having read about the arrest of the Shipping Department's Chief Engineer Fakhrul Islam with bribes at his office last Tuesday, I couldn't help wondering what had gone wrong for him this time. Of course, this is not the first time that a government high-up has been caught red handed with backhander inside a government office, but the million dollar question, however,  was he truly so stupid not to have understood and foreseen the risk factors behind accepting cash inside his office? Or to see it from a different angle - would any senior, rational and responsible individual, someone in the ranks of a Chief Engineer blatantly accept kickbacks notwithstanding the numerous risks existing in government offices?

 "What would be the repercussions in case one of the illegally approved ships approved by the wrongdoer Chief Engineer sinks today? Would Bengal Marine take the disaster's responsibility? Or would the Engineer who had approved the sunken ship's design?"

First of all one never knows who are the hidden or invisible enemies at one's workplace. Second, office is the one place where one never expects to be publicly humiliated, and third, if once caught by the law enforcers while receiving illegal cash - the offender's career is literally doomed for the rest of his or her life. In the case of the Shipping Department's Chief Engineer all three happened and had happened too quickly.   Pondering over all these issues, this writer carefully placed himself in the shoes of the wrongdoer, imagining what he would have done if he was the criminal.

The point, however, the practice of receiving kickbacks at government offices and that too, in broad daylight is one of those clichéd open secrets in Bangladesh. That said - the frequency of its occurring in recent times has intensified at such degree - that offenders are often fooled while arrogantly overlooking at the risks of being caught - be it red or blue. More to it - many of them have become inconceivably defiant and impudent in practicing sleaze wherever possible. It is exactly the overconfidence more than his stupidity which had lead to the Chief Engineer's arrest. From a technical perspective, he chose the wrong timing to accept the backhander at the wrong place. Perhaps, meeting his partner in crime at a low profile hotel over a peg of scotch inside a dimly lit room would have been better after his office hours.

Had it been anywhere in America and Europe the kickback would have been secretly deposited at an off-shore account of the receiver opened under a fake name and in a different country. No risk of getting caught, not at least within the geographical boundaries where the criminal is residing.

Don't get this writer wrong. He is not, by any means, trying to inspire and strategize corrupt practices by prescribing sophisticated methods, but trying to say - most of our very well educated high-ups actually haven't mastered the art of handling kickbacks intelligently since the lure of cash is so tempting that they would want to have it instantly.

We would perhaps never know based on whose tip-off the Anti-corruption Commission was so proactive to catch the criminal red handed, but a mystery has shrouded the whole affair. This writer suspects that there must have been an in-house brawl which had gone against the Chief Engineer otherwise, how was all the previous ship designs got passed? Didn't anyone at the Shipping Department's other engineers know of the ongoing financial misdeed relating to approving unlawful designs? And once more it's this issue which needs be addressed first.     

The point, however, corruption at the upper echelons of our various engineering departments, and also many other government ministries are organized in nature. The sleazy money making schemes are designed by incorporating all the levels so to prevent the leakage of indoor fraud.

Only, and only if one concerned person of the organized scheme is anyhow left - he or she is enough to ring the bell. Also not to forget - the Fakhrul Islam scandal is an eye-opener how big-scale local companies indulge themselves in getting their businesses approved. Bengal Marine is not just another company, in fact, it is an internationally renowned Bangladesh firm with offices in Singapore and Malaysia, and if this company has been bribing the chief authority of the Shipping Department - it's urgent we seriously look into what's happening inside our nascent ship building industry and protect it from a bigger disaster.

The fact is, given our steady economic growth, cost of making and engineering potentials our shipping industry is growing and unlike the disorderly rise of the RMG sector we have to ensure that it grows at par with international legal standards. (Read if we want avoid big-scale disaster)

That's why it's worth raising the question - what would be the repercussions in case one of the illegally approved ships approved by the wrongdoer Chief Engineer sinks today? Would Bengal Marine take the disaster's responsibility? Or would the Engineer who had approved the sunken ship's design?

The nail needs to be hammered right at the centre of the crooked syndicate that's corrupting both our Shipping Department and the industry. That's why it has become crucial to deeply investigate into what went wrong in the arrested Chief Engineer's case.

The writer is a journalist