The article discusses the devastating impact of the BNP-Jamaat government's misrule and corruption on farmers during Khaleda Zia's tenure as prime minister from 2001 to 2006. The power crisis and the BNP leaders' involvement in a fertilizer scandal led to a decrease in food grain production, forcing many small farmers to abandon cultivation and migrate in search of food and work. Reports reveal that BNP leaders created a crisis in the market, hoarded fertilizers, produced counterfeit fertilizers, and sold them at exorbitant prices to a select few wealthy farmers. As a consequence, fertilizer became unaffordable for most ordinary farmers. The article further details the damage caused to boro crops in the Barendra region and the 50% drop in crop production in 2006 due to fertilizer shortage.
Tarique Rahman made thousands of crores of cash through commission trading, extortion and corruption in the five years of the BNP-Jamaat coalition government from 2001 to 2006. He sent the money abroad through his business friend Giasuddin Al Mamun. They invested a part of this money in some European countries, Malaysia and Singapore through five accounts abroad. During the caretaker government, Tarique Rahman, who was detained by law enforcement agencies, said that Mamun and Silver Salim used to look after the matters of sending and investing money abroad. His brother Arafat Rahman Koko, his friend Mamun, and his maternal uncle Sayeed Iskandar looked after his domestic businesses.
While in power from 2001 to 2006, the BNP-Jamaat leaders used to steal tins allocated for the poor and needy of the country and sell them in the market or distribute them among themselves. They also disbursed the OMS rice, donated by the government for the needy, among their party activists.
Between 2001 and 2006, the influential BNP-Jamaat leaders and activities, who were close to Hawa Bhaban, deforested thousands of hectares of land indiscriminately and grabbed the forests across the country. With the help of Chief Conservators of Forests, Munshi Anwarul (2004-2005) and Osman Gani (2005-2006), the BNP-Jamaat ring smuggled timber and grabbed forest land to earn thousands of crores of taka. Several BNP MPs, ministers, Prime Minister's Office, and Hawa Bhaban were directly involved in such looting and anomalies.
The corruption of Khaleda Zia's Home Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and Barisal City Mayor Mujibur Rahman Sarwar reached beyond the borders of the country and abroad. Bangladesh became the world champion in corruption five times in a row from 2001 to 2006 thanks to the unbridled corruption and money laundering by the BNP-Jamaat alliance and the then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's family members. The media started publishing reports about the anomalies after the caretaker government began a crackdown against corruption in 2007.