It's not a problem. It's rather a crisis that may badly affect the economy of the country as a whole.
This was how leading experts yesterday expressed their concerns about what is happening in the state-owned banks, particularly the Tk 3,547-crore swindle out of Sonali Bank.
Limiting the central bank's control over government banks by establishing a banking division under the finance ministry has been facilitating
numerous irregularities and corruption in these banks, they observed.
“I'm worried at seeing the government response. At the same time, the finance minister's comment [that Tk 4,000 crore swindled is a petty amount] will encourage the fraudsters,” said former Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed.
“Not only should legal action be taken against those involved in the Tk 3,547-crore embezzlement, but the assets of the culprits should also
be confiscated to recover the money,” Salehuddin told a discussion.
The Bangla daily Prothom Alo organised the programme on the theme, “The way the banks run and the way they should”, at its offices in the capital.
Khandoker Ibrahim Khaled, chairman of Bangladesh Krishi Bank, criticised the government for establishing a banking division, which according to him was busy transferring and promoting people.
In 2007, the then caretaker government turned Sonali, Janata and Agrani into companies so that the banks could function better. But the current government in 2009 re-established the banking division under the finance ministry, which was in conflict with the company model, Ibrahim Khaled said.
"The time has come to abolish the banking division; otherwise these banks will never run smoothly,” said Khaled.
Former caretaker government adviser Akbar Ali Khan said successive governments had failed to run the state-owned banks.
“No political government has been able to run these banks properly in the last 40 years. We've tried, but we could not stop mismanagement and corruption.... These banks should be privatised for better management,” hesaid.
The government had appointed directors who had no banking experience, added Akbar, who is also a former finance and cabinet secretary.
He also came down heavily on the banking division.
“Officers in the division don't understand the banking business. The control of the state-owned banks should immediately be handed over to the central bank, or else these banks will be in a deeper crisis."
He demanded that the government take stern action against those involved in the Sonali Bank loan scam to restore the faith of the foreign banks engaged in business with Bangladeshi banks.
According to another former caretaker government adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, “Economic governance
has broken down."
“The central bank should have full control over the state-owned banks," he said and demanded punishment of the "culprits" behind the loan scam in the Sonali Bank.
"The government can give a signal to the people by not reappointing any director of the present board," said Mirza Azizul, who is a former chairman of the Sonali Bank's board.
Prof MATaslim, chairman of the economics department of Dhaka University, termed the Sonali bank scam a "system failure".
"Azizur Rahman [deputy general manager Sonali Bank! was serving a different master and he knew that his bosses could not do anything to him,” saidTaslim.
He said a sense of impunity seemed to be present everywhere, and if a criminal sensed that he would not face punishment, he would go for bigger crimes.
“First, there was a share market scam, then Destiny irregularities, then the World Bank's corruption charge and now Hall-Mark,” he pointed out.
Raihana Anisa Yusuf Ali, former deputy managing director of Sonali Bank, was shocked to hear that the top management of Sonali Bank could not understand anything about the fraud in its Ruposhi Bangla branch though the branch was supposed to send statements on daily, weekly and monthly basis.
The public banking sector made headlines after a Bangladesh Bank investigation found that Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch had helped Hall-Mark Group and five other companies swindle Tk 3,547 crore out of it.
Like its scam-hit Ruposhi Bangla branch, the Sonali
Bank's Gulshan branch has also helped a number of companies to embezzle Tk 159 crore.
In both cases, loans were approved and disbursed against fake documents without due diligence, according to an audit report and Bangladesh Bank findings.
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