Further details have emerged of the operations of the notorious Faridpur criminal duo and their associates and patrons which, once again, put into sharp relief the enduring connection between politics and crimes in Bangladesh. The two brothers—Faridpur Awami League’s suspended general secretary Sajjad Hossain Barkat and his brother Imtiaz Hasan Rubel—ran a criminal syndicate through which they would commit various crimes, including tender manipulation, extortion and land grabbing. In the process, they amassed a vast amount of wealth and money, a large part of which was siphoned off abroad. A new report by this daily highlights how they were enabled by influential ruling-party leaders, including a former minister’s brother and assistant personal secretary—and how they would secure government contracts by ruthlessly eliminating competition even from Awami League-linked businessmen. One enlisted contractor disclosed to The Daily Star how he was mercilessly beaten just for submitting a tender.

A CID charge sheet submitted in connection with a money laundering case accused all the four mentioned above, as well as six others. While the story of how the brothers and their enablers ran the syndicate—using their political connections and muscle power, including through a “helmet gang”—is nothing new, it does show the enduring appeal of the political patronage of crimes. The question is: how could these criminals operate with such impunity, and for so long? Why did the administration do nothing to bring them to justice earlier? Whether or not the 10 will be punished for their crimes remains to be seen. But this can be said with certainty that only prosecuting the visible faces of such crimes, without addressing the real problem of the criminalised patronage culture, will not have much impact in the future.

Unfortunately, we live in a country where the check and balance system seems to have almost broken down, with near-zero accountability for the political actors and those in law enforcement. People like Barkat and Rubel often start as petty criminals, and it is only through political patronage and the tolerance of the administration that they are able to sustain and rise through the ranks. They are discarded only when they become an embarrassment for the powers that be. Unless we stop this culture of tolerance for crimes and stop political influences to get in the way of rule of law, the old players will only be replaced by emerging ones, and there will be no end to such crimes. The real criminals, those benefiting from their services, will remain outside of the law. All political parties, including the ruling one, as well as the administration must try harder to stop this from happening.