The picture of the E-valy owners, surrounded by RAB officials and being taken to the RAB HQ is meant to signify the fight against evil which it is but it seems we don’t want to fight the rise of the Devil in the first place. Was it because we love to make a big song and dance in arresting people only after they have committed the crime but are helpless to prevent theft? It’s a serious question because it puts the capacity of the state agencies and regulators into question. That is serious because the formal state would then begin to look weak.
Arresting is not the same as preventing and this is where the focus should be. However, we only see arrests and then nothing else afterwards. Some of the biggest loot cases have just been that-photo-ops and such continuity is apt to raise questions about the ability of the state to protect its own people.
The Government has rightly spoken about Digital Bangladesh and it’s inevitable that if we are to survive, we need to go digital. The problem is, it’s a narrow vision because while inter-action about the digital economy is now already given for most, people are having as much encounter with digital looting too. While the authorities have created space for the e-commerce world, it has failed to provide the protective grid that always has to be there.
The regulatory bodies are busy keeping a tab on the political elements but not the private sector thugs that rip off people. This trend began with a great surge in setting up MLMs creating the platform for ripping off people at a large scale. Destiny was only one of those and many others existed and none have been reined in. The Destiny leaders are in jail but lead a charmed life inside and their stories are now the stuff of legends in how to make a fool of regulators and run away with public money. And the agencies are unable to and the cheaters have no obligation to return the money to the clients.
When MLMs ran out of steam, the “looter” sector invented leasing companies and banks. The great symbol as an individual of that trend is Haldar who ripped off crores and with direct collusion of the regulators ran away to Canada. As always, the regulators get active only when the departure is completed. So what does all the judicial energy matter when he is not here and his money certainly isn’t? It’s obvious that some waited till he was safe before moving.
The problem is that the model is set. It’s beyond the ability and intent of those who are supposed to protect the people to do much.. They are not on the side of the people which leaves only one other side to them. It’s this reality that makes the arrest of the E-valy owners largely a photo op rather than a law enforcement action.
