Combating Anarchy, Malfeasance in Banks and Financial Institutions Is Interim Government’s Most Enormous Assignment

 

Class discrimination, price hike, corruption and extreme lack of good governance in the banking arena, financial activities and in all other sectors have hammered the ordinary citizens of Bangladesh. Solid and sustainable development cannot be acquired without eliminating class discrepancies, bribery and corruption. Following the downfall of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 5 August 2024, people across Bangladesh have become highly optimistic that the interim government headed by Nobel Laureate Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus will wage a war against corruption in banking and financial sectors. Bangladesh Bank’s former Governor and a highly eminent economist Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed has been assigned with the Finance Ministry. Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed is dealing with a highly challenging job, but we believe he can accomplish it with flying colours. It seems to be the fact that bribery and graft have engulfed the entire country. Most of the victims of corruption blame bureaucratic entanglements for the spread of bribery. Money is one of the most essential things in life. But when money is used for purpose of corruption, it pollutes people’s morality, sickens social integrity and jeopardizes state mechanism. Corrupted officials take advantage of ordinary citizens’ modesty and diabolically they regard bribery as the daintiest treat to butter up their bureaucratic contrivances.

Political parties should all the time work for the betterment of the country’s masses but most of the politicians are not doing so. The biggest political parties of our country have been all along running after power instead of serving the nation.

Banking and financial sectors of Bangladesh are going through deadly rackets due to widespread graft and irregularities. Bangladesh Bank and Finance Ministry have not been able to halt defaulted loans and money laundering. Nepotism, political influence and lack of integrity are right now posing grim threats to our economy. Most of the loan defaulters and money launderers are powerful chaps who allegedly have very intimate affiliations with the government. That’s why no actions are being taken against financial culprits.

People across Bangladesh are suffering tremendously because of unrestrained price hike. It is not at all clear what the authorities concerned are doing to reduce prices of daily essential things. Market monitoring should be conducted very stringently to keep prices under control. At the same time stern actions should be taken immediately against the syndicates who are responsible for extensively rising prices.

Class variation is the biggest hurdle for socio-economic advancement. The common people of Bangladesh including workers and farmers cannot get hold of the blessings of development because most of the wealth of the country is clutched by a particular group of influential big shots who are always backed up by the bourgeois political parties.

The glorious Liberation War of 1971 was fought to establish equal rights for everyone. But we could not do so because all the political parties who have ruled Bangladesh so far have enforced capitalistic repressions on the country’s people. Capitalism opposes the idea of equal rights. Capitalism does nothing except depriving general people. For this reason a socialistic state mechanism is necessary to ensure social justice and economic benefits for all citizens. Capitalism is the biggest hurdle on the way to equity and human welfare. Therefore, the existing capitalistic repressive economic system should be replaced with the ideals of socialism.

Some infrastructural projects of Bangladesh are much more expensive than other countries. It is not at all clear why so much money is being spent on these projects. Higher expenditure on development projects often leads to greater corruption. Unfortunately there is no significant initiative from the government to fight graft and financial disorder.

Most of the state-owned and private banks have been affected with huge sums of defaulted loans. The magnitude of defaulted loans has amounted to approximately 2 trillion taka including written off credits. Financial sources have informed that most of the defaulted loans have been transferred abroad by money launderers. Money launderers often transfer money to overseas destinations by over-invoicing and under-invoicing. Reportedly the amount of laundered money has gone up to 6 lakh crore taka during last ten years.

Enormous figures of defaulted loans and mysterious loans have put a number of banks in capital deficit and liquidity crisis. Most of the banks have failed to recover their defaulted loans. Financial experts have said that political influence, nepotism and lack of good governance are responsible for banking scams and financial turmoil in Bangladesh. Banking sources have stated that most of the loan scammers got bank loans through fake mortgages. Financial experts have referred to political influence and inefficiency of Finance Ministry and Bangladesh Bank as some more principal causes behind money laundering. In recent times it has been exposed by concerned sources that a powerful group of money launderers are making false shipment papers and fake invoices to facilitate illegal money transfer from Bangladesh to overseas destinations. Under-invoicing and over-invoicing are another two ways utilized by financial culprits for transferring money to foreign countries through unauthorized channels.

Bangladesh is now facing the highest ever trade deficit and burgeoning import expenses which are vivid threats to national economy according to financial quarters.

The state mechanism and the social system will have to be completely overhauled to put an end to bribery and corruption.


PR Biswas is a Senior Staff Correspondent of The Asian Age.