Editorial
Watchful eye on banking scams
Act to allay misgivings
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stated in its latest country report that the body is closely following steps the central bank (BB) has taken to tackle the string of recent financial scams that have rocked the banking sector in Bangladesh. Indeed, the international financial institution is due to start its review from March 20 to assess the various reforms that must be carried as a prerequisite to fulfilling conditionalities tagged to availing the next tranche of the US$1billion extended credit facility loan.
Bangladesh has not been enjoying the best of relations with multilateral agencies. Relations with the World Bank (WB) for instance have unfortunately become strained somewhat over the unhappy outcome over the Padma Bridge issue. This has led to a situation where now, due stress on 'integrity' on utilisation of funds on a number of bilateral projects is being placed.
The question is why must we have to wait for pressure from foreign institutions to initiate prompt action against financial fraudulent practitioners? The clamour for government intervention and action has been going on for some time now, and it has come from financial experts and from the civil society at large. We too have repeatedly highlighted the risks of taking a laid back approach to containing the scourge of scandals in the financial sector the undermining of which could very well weaken the confidence in our economic system.
Yet, all the calls for holding those responsible to account have apparently fallen on deaf ears. The need for prosecuting those responsible for the banking schemes, and meting out exemplary punishment to the culprits responsible remains on the backburner for authorities concerned. It is only in our national interest that we set "right" the "wrongs" done by unscrupulous business interests.
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