Editorial
Hall-Mark bosses in custody
Let it unmask the magnitude of the scam
After much dithering, the Managing Director and General Manager of Hall-Mark Group of Industries were finally taken into custody over the Sonali Bank loan scam on October 7. It is better late than never. Even so, it is a tiny step given the widespread indiscipline reigning in the financial sector which needs to be addressed firmly and on a sustainable basis.
Now the government has run into an exposure on Destiny and Hall-Mark scams. But prior to these, there was the larger stock market scam. The government is effectively hemmed in by a series of scams. In the stock market case, a probe committee undertook the task of conducting a thorough investigation. It was an exhaustive and substantive probe carried out by a team led by reputed banker Ibrahim Khalid. Yet what did the government do with its findings and recommendation? It debunked both the report and its author. By mishandling successive controversies, a wrong signal has gone out to the whole financial sector. This has resulted in violating the norms of financial governance with long term implications.
When financial institutions turn into dens of corruption, public confidence, which is the bedrock of existence and prosperity of these organisations, is hijacked by a wayward miniscule minority. Therein lies the implications of integrity and honesty of the system so that none can slip through its cracks. The other way of stemming corruption in the financial sector is by meting out exemplary punishment to the perpetrators and we hope that authorities will take the message to heart when dealing with the series of scandals that have shaken the very foundations of the financial sector.
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