Money recovery from scamsters
It's so good to be back home after 3 months with my extended family in Kenya and Dubai! In Mombasa, I had plenty of time to listen to people regaling me about conditions in neighbouring Central African countries, where they travel often. The country most often mentioned was Rwanda, whose airline I flew and wrote about in my letter of 13 July in TDS. Rwanda was totally devastated by the most horrendous tribal genocide ever to take place18 years ago over 1 million killed = 25-30% of the population.
Sanity has come back to Rwanda with a vengeance. Most common comments heard were “So neat and clean”, “Spotless and efficient administration”, “So safe, you can sleep outside”, “Humming with activity”, “Paradise for eco- tourists”, and finally “Rwanda not only looks like Switzerland but runs like it and in some respects even better.” Could any praise be higher? So how did this happen? As a Bangladeshi, I felt ashamed to receive the simple answer. Leadership, and leadership alone, that is honest, dedicated, committed and brooks no nonsense. Those responsible for the genocide have long gone and instead of wailing on past misery, the entire nation has moved on.
However, back to the subject of this letter, which is very relevant to us in view of the multi-thousand crore scams that adorn our headlines ALL MURK(y), DESH TINY, Padma, Rail, Stock, Sonali and the thousands of big/small looting scams being perpetrated all over. In 1994-95, many Rwandans had also made plenty of hay while the blood was flowing. Was any time wasted with probes, charge-sheets, futile demands to recover the ill-gotten gains? NO!! They were brought to rapid justice. They were ensconced in 7* luxury cells to serve their sentences.
So, where is the Catch? To teach them the deflated value of looted money, the convicts were given everything, but at PRICES. It is said, a glass of water cost Tk. 5,000/- and you can imagine the rest. Within weeks, millions of dollars of looted money flowed back and was put in development projects that have transformed the country. Hunger and thirst are great levellers!! Can we not have something similar here in view of all the 3*, 5* 7* SCAMS?
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