BNP-Jamaat regime: Hawa Bhaban syndicate plundered Tk 3 lakh crores by manipulating commodity prices

During the BNP-Jamaat regime from 2001 to 2006, an undeclared and alternative government was operating from the Hawa Bhaban, the residence of the former prime minister's son, Tarique Rahman. The Hawa Bhaban ring looted Tk 2.86 lakh crores by manipulating the prices of daily commodities in the first four and a half years of the coalition government. The daily Janakantha published the report with facts and evidence on July 13, 2006.

The daily reported that Tarique Rahman formed a syndicate of traders under Hawa Bhaban with the direct support of the Khaleda Zia government. He then started plundering a thousand crores of money every month by hiking the prices of various products overnight. Though the monthly salaries and incomes of ordinary people remained the same, the living cost increased twice due to the evil syndicate of Hawa Bhaban. While the ordinary people were becoming helpless, billions of dollars were getting accumulated in the foreign accounts of Tarique Rahman and his close businessmen.

According to economics, price increases when demand increases, but supply decreases. But during the BNP-Jamaat period, neither did people's income nor their demand increase. Hence, there was no scope for a shortage of supplies. But the traders kept increasing the prices of various products overnight. Even people who bought one kg of sugar for Tk 32 taka the night before, had to pay Tk 64 the next morning.

Adam Smith, the father of economics, called the events of market price-terror, bypassing the rules of economics, as ‘manipulation by invisible hands'. As the reason behind these manipulations, modern economist David Ricardo said such a situation emerged when the price of goods is determined politically rather than market or economically. Then the invisible marketers got rich quickly by robbing the people. Tarique Rahman and his business partners did the same thing in Bangladesh. As a result, corruption gripped the whole country, which made it the world champion in corruption five times in a row.