Everyone in my circle is corrupt: Advisor Mahfuz to Asif-Nahid

“A few bigwigs from a new party are involved in this. Everyone in a circle is corrupt, but one person is not taking any money—who will tolerate this?”

Staff Correspondent

Mahfuz Alam, the interim government’s information and broadcasting advisor, said in a status on his Facebook account that “almost everyone in a circle around him is corrupt” and that a group is conspiring against him because he has not accepted any financial benefits.

In this status, Mahfuz said that a person recently met his brother with an offer to help with a tender related to BTV. The offer said that if he helps with the tender, he will be given a ‘percentage’ and will also receive assistance with a foreign trip in July.

Mahfuz wrote, “I forbid it after learning about it. Even with good intentions, the state’s trust cannot be betrayed.”

However, according to him, after rejecting the offer, the person recorded the conversation and sent it to a journalist. When contacted by the journalist, Mahfuz admitted the matter and said that he did not approve the work. Later, the tender was suspended.

In the status, he said, “A few leaders of a new party are involved in this. Everyone in a circle is corrupt, but one person is not taking any money – who will tolerate this?”

He further wrote, “Of all the allegations leveled against me in the last 12 months, not once has anyone complained of corruption or financial irregularities. That is their pain point.”

Allegations of shadow leadership by Asif-Nahid in ‘Hair Road Network’

Just the day before this status, Umama Fatima, the former spokesperson for the anti-discrimination student movement, made explosive allegations in a live broadcast on social media. In the more than two-hour live broadcast, she claimed that the real direction of the movement came from the advisors’ homes on Hare Road in the capital.

Umama complained, “All decisions were made sitting on the hair road, I just implemented it.”

He questioned the role of the ‘maharthis’ involved in forming the new party, without mentioning the names of the three – Information Advisor Mahfuz, Youth and Sports Advisor Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, and ICT Advisor Nahid Islam.

In his words, “They canceled the program of the December 31 manifesto and went towards forming a party in January. I was not interested. When I said something later, they said I was trying to grab the platform.”

Umama said in a tearful voice, “You called me and used me like a tissue paper. I’m not tissue paper!”

In such a situation, the question arises—who exactly are the ‘agitated mob’? Why are they not being identified and arrested? And how long will the government continue to play a reactive role in the issue of minority security?