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Murky way to millions

ZAYADUL AHSAN
If you try to conceive of any easy ways to become a millionaire without having to make a huge investment, being a 'metre reader' would be the last thing to race across your mind.
However, rather than wincing at the proposition should you take up the seemingly unimpressive job, let's say at the Titas Gas Transmissions and Distribution Company, you can become filthy rich in a few years.
You can buy cosy flats, hit the road on expensive cars, and fly your
family to Singapore to spend the vacation!
And, all you need to do is become a high-ranking unionist and forget work ethics. Soon, you will be held in high esteem by leading industrialists and powerful politicians alike.
Now, having politicians' blessings means that the Bureau of Anticorruption or any other authorities cannot touch you. Moreover, when you rub shoulder with the powerful you do have a say on how Titas should run.
Exactly that's the kind of power and privilege most metre readers of Titas enjoy.
No wonder some 'honest' managers of Titas and Petrobangla, its parent organisation, find the fact something too hard to swallow. Everyone knows the criminal activities of most of the 60-70 metre
readers of Titas, but they can do little. They cannot be punished, tried or even reprimanded.
However, not all metre readers hog the limelight. In fact, some 20 of them are big shots. Mahbubur Rahman is 'one proud son' of Titas.
Mahbub was arrested on April 27 at the Zia International Airport before he and his family was to board a Singapore-bound plane with a passport that says he is a businessman. However, police could not detain him for long as a top political leader intervened.
The police are yet to take any action against him. Titas gas made a futile attempt to do something about him by forming an investigation committee. The committee members were however nominated by Mahbub himself!
The Daily Star probed Rahman's career and the source of his immense wealthhe owns one building and the land on which it is built and two flats in Purana Paltan in the city, two industries and a car. He has had a Titas gas jeep assigned to him full time.
The probe reveals that he made the fortune simply by tampering gas metres of the industries located in Narayanganj, Munshiganj and Narsingdi areas.
"He gets gas bills reduced to a ridiculous level by helping the unscrupulous industries clock back the meter. And, he gets 'handsome commissions' from the industry owners," said a source.
That's not all -- he also provides by-pass connections to industries in return for 'heavy commissions'.
Such ill-gotten wealth has made Mahbub so powerful that the Titas gas authorities do not want to bother him. He is the Vice-President of the Titas Gas Jatiyatabadi Sramik Union and tells people that he is very close to a BNP policymaker.
When he was arrested on April 27, an assistant of the said BNP policymaker called the police and asked them to release him. Previously on February 6, the Narayanganj thana police arrested him on criminal charges. Again, he was released on the same day due to political intervention.
Mahbub often goes abroad, his
last trip in December took him to New Zealand. The passport seized by the immigration authorities had about a dozen visas.
Mahbub recently applied to the Titas authorities for gas connection to his industry named Sarkar Chemicals. He is now moving the files himself.
Previously its name was Century Chemicals, an industrial unit officially owned by his wife and father. But as the industry defaulted on payment of gas bills worth Tk 1.5 crore to Titas, he renamed it. The authorities are even not trying to recover the outstanding.
A high official of Titas, on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star that there were more than one such "Mahbub" in Titas who have greatly 'contributed' to an all time high level of systems loss. According to the latest report, systems loss in Titas in January stood at 12.05 per cent -highest since its inception.
The official said everyday these metre readers steal gas worth half a crore taka. And, Titas is sinking now. According to a government estimate, everyday gas worth Tk 48 lakh is being pilfered. A task force has been set up to resist such pilferage. But none is co-operating with the task force fearing the wrath of powerful, corrupt leaders like Mahbub.
When The Daily Star reached Mahbub over his cell phone and asked him yesterday what he has to say about the corruption charges, he denied those. "Most gas theft takes place in the Narayanganj zone. The government has formed a task force in this regard and I am helping it. As many are being affected by the probe of the task force, they are spreading rumours against me," quipped Mahbub.
Asked how he amassed so much wealth, he said, "My forefathers had businesses. I did not have my Titas job for sometime. During that time, I was did a business."
"I don't own a car," he said when asked about the expensive car. When it was pointed out to him that his wife owns it, Mahbub retorted, "Why ask me then?"
When asked why he frequently travels abroad, he said, "I was thrown off the Titas Bhaban's third floor in 1992 and was injured. I am still suffering from that injury. I have to go abroad for treatment."
Asked why he identifies himself as a businessman in the passport, he said, "Can I not do business?"
When questioned why he works as a metre reader since he is well-off he said, "How long have I been with Titas? I joined Titas in 1987, and I could not work for 11 years due to termination and injury. The present government has given me the job back… I don't want to work here. Everyone is conspiring against me."
The Daily Star also found that all the property has been acquired over the last three or four years although Mahbub says he inherited those. He also said he has been doing business for five years.
Profile
Real name: Mahbubur Rahman
Passport name: Bhuiyan Mahbubul Alam (passport number: K271847, profession business)
Father's name: Abdus Salek Bhuiyan
Permanent address: Village-Kararchar, Post office- Kararchar High School, Upazilla- Shibpur, District- Narsingdi
Present address: Eastern Eden
Flat-1/401, 3/A Purana Paltan
Career: Joined Titas as Junior Meter Reader (code- 771-08233) on May 23, 1987
Present position: Presently deputed in Narayanganj
Suspended in April 23, 1996 Terminated in March 12, 1998
Reinstated in November 24, 2001
Current pay scale Tk 3,735
Property
Four katha land with a three-storey four-unit building in 72, Rasulpur, Dhania
A 1400 square feet flat in Eastern Eden, 1/401, 3/A Purana Paltan
A 2000 square feet flat, centrally air conditioned, in 3B Purana Paltan (used for his business) Industry: Messrs Cotton Touch, Kararchar Shibpur ( On paper his father and wife own it)
Industry: Messrs Sarkar
Chemicals, Kararchar, Shibpur (On paper the father, wife and another person own it)
Car: Toyota Corolla (Number: Ga-14-1031 . Registration address: Mrs. Afroza Khanam (wife of Mahbub), 3/1 Purana Paltan. Dated February 13, 2000)
Jeep: Dhaka Metro Gha-02-
3098, owned by Titas but illegally used full time by Mahbub. After office hours, the jeep is often kept at Mahbub's res