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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000459 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2017 
TAGS: KCRM KDEM PREL PGOV BD
SUBJECT: BUSINESSMEN AND POLITICIANS REACTION TO SECOND 
LIST OF 50 
 
REF: A. DHAKA 0436 
     ¶B. DHAKA 0329 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Geeta Pasi; Reason 1.4(d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.  Businessmen are starting to express concern 
about the lack of transparency with the government's 
anti-corruption lists, particularly as they pertain to 
several well-regarded businessmen. Meanwhile, an Awami League 
politician says his inclusion on the lists is being used by 
senior army officers to pressure him to join a pro-military 
political party.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On February 18, the government published a list of 
50 persons required to present personal net worth statements 
to the Anti-Corruption Commission; most of the 50 were 
subsequently arrested and most were widely reputed to be 
exceptionally corrupt.  On March 8, the Daily Star newspaper, 
citing a "reliable source," published a second list of 50 
corruption suspects who the government never officially 
acknowledged or dismissed.  Although politicians from both 
the Awami League and even more from the Bangladesh 
Nationalist Party dominated both lists, some businessmen, 
journalists, and labor leaders appeared on the second list. 
Most prominent were the chairman of Bashundhara Group and 
Beximco, two of the country's largest business conglomerates, 
and the president of the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries, 
A.K. Azad, whose garment factories are principal suppliers to 
JC Penny and Target.  No specific charges have been 
associated with or filed against most of the suspects. 
 
¶3. (C) Reports that a third list is being compiled have 
fueled anxiety among potential targets.  Recently, several 
business leaders told econoff that they were surprised by the 
inclusion of Azad on the list as none could explain what he 
might have done wrong.  Azad's inclusion raised concerns 
among major U.S. buyers about the potential impact of the 
anti-corruption campaign on Bangladesh's reputation as a 
reliable supplier of ready-made garments.  Both JC Penny (ref 
A) and Target contacted the Embassy to seek register concern. 
 
 
¶4. (C) On March 18, business leaders told econoff that the 
anti-corruption campaign and earlier government actions to 
target "hoarders" and adulterated commodities have had a 
chilling effect on business, evidenced by a drop in the 
volume of import letters of credit opened over the past 
month.  Buyers, they say, are reluctant to order normal 
quantities because of uncertain rules over what constitutes 
"hoarding."  Importers of commodities also fear that normal 
spoilage (5%-10% wastage is not uncommon) will be attacked as 
"adulteration." 
 
¶5. (C) On March 18, Awami League International Affairs 
Secretary Syed Abul Hossain, who is on the second list of 50, 
 
SIPDIS 
told poloff that he does not sleep at home now for fear of 
arrest and insisted that corruption allegations that led to 
his resignation as State Minister during the last Awami 
League government had all been resolved.  In order to clear 
his name, Hossain said, he sought out business and army 
leaders.  When he asked Directorate General for Forces 
Intelligence,s Brigadier General Bari to purge his name from 
the list, Bari reportedly replied that the army was forming a 
political party and wanted to know how many Members of 
Parliament Hossain could bring with him to this new party. 
Bari allegedly added that the army has approached other 
members of both major parties about joining them, 
underscoring to Hossain that his name on the list was simply 
a ploy to get him to join the new party. 
 
¶6. (C) Jatiya Party Secretary General Ruhul Howlader recently 
told poloff that during the Ershad regime, BNP member (and 
future BNP law minister) Moudud Ahmed was arrested on 
corruption charges, given a choice about his future, 
released, and then welcomed into the fold of Ershad's Jatiya 
Party.  Howlader speculated that the army today is using the 
same strategy to build its own political party. 
 
¶7. (C) Comment: The public has strongly supported government 
action against individuals widely believed to be corrupt, but 
as the net widens to capture people who are those less 
obviously culpable, it risks alienating constituencies, like 
 
DHAKA 00000459  002 OF 002 
 
 
business, that originally hailed the government's agenda and 
scaring off key overseas buyers who seek stable supply 
chains.  As reports accumulate from leaders of both main 
parties that military officers have urged them to support a 
pro-military party, the allegation that the military is using 
the corruption campaign as political leverage looks more and 
more credible. 
BUTENIS