Khawaza Main Uddin

Innocent people feel helpless when a society is devoid of an atmosphere of justice. Only a few take the recourse which is not pleasant either. The masses thus tend to bank on their belief system - let poetic justice be done some day.

And when nature really takes revenge for past misdeeds, the gentlemen still cannot join the ordinary minds in celebrating the downfall of the villains.

The revelations, made in Panama Papers, have offered a sense of justice to those who cannot touch the big fish who reportedly have offshore holdings. If some of the disclosures are not relating to stolen properties or violation of laws, people around the world have yet found certain joy of knowing what cannot always be known.

The statesmen and moneyed men and women, who have been named and shamed in Panama Papers, may now invoke privacy and secrecy of property for their protection.

Ah! Some of these very, very important persons, like Vladimir Putin, have used intelligence operators to pursue every piece of secret and private information of their rivals. Privacy seemed to be property of the powerful ones, not the subalterns in a society.

Openness, be it in its crudest form, promotes the truth that is often suppressed by the culture of secrecy maintained by the establishments. In any society, there is a thing called shame which helps people avoid committing misdeeds and instead live with decency.

Yes, the Philippine leaders have shown that they are ashamed of the elicit transfer of the $81 million fund stolen from Bangladesh Bank to Filipino casinos through their banking channels. The hearing by Philippines Senate panel proves their seriousness in correcting the loopholes in their system and also Sri Lanka, one of probable destinations of the stolen money, hosts a cyber conference.

The recent restriction imposed on the entry of journalists into the central bank headquarters, in the aftermath of the incident, reflects the mindset of the authorities. (An anti-graft watchdog, which has been reduced to something else, has followed the suit in stopping newsmen’s access.)

Do the authorities think such a hearing will be fruitless in identifying the culprits, especially the ones inside Bangladesh Bank and elsewhere who have complicity? Or, will it lead to the conclusion that it is not a mere hacking from outside, rather a collaborative scheme?

Perhaps, the authorities concerned no longer want to expose them further, given the number of financial scams in recent years - loan forgery at state-owned Sonali Bank, Basic Bank and Janata Bank, the Destiny affair, and share market manipulation.

Together, it involved at least Tk 30,000 crore, all of which is public money that has gone down the drain without any accountability. The amount would only be smaller than what is siphoned off from Bangladesh every year (more than $55 billion in past 10 years), if we compare our losses.

Most of the big names have not even received a formal reprimand, rather than overt and covert appreciation from the state, for their involvement or at least superior responsibility. Nobody can deny the fact of plundering public money nor can anyone ignore the wholesale chaos in the financial sector.

If we believe the finance minister represents the government’s official position in his decisions and actions, there is no initiative visible that can indicate any willingness to let the people know what kind of drama was staged in the sector overall, and Bangladesh Bank in particular. As Mr. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has ruled out constitution of any commission for the banking sector, no comment is required.

It may well be argued that our government machinery is good enough to bring money back home, through, for example, quiet diplomacy. A committee headed by former Bangladesh Bank governor Mohammad Farashuddin, has also been formed to probe the matter.

However, our system works so well that such a unique example of stealing foreign exchange reserve is possible! The state of Digital Bangladesh can be visualised properly through this episode of the central bank, where the people of Bangladesh lose money but do not have any right to know how it happened.

Some Bangladeshi names, representing the powerful and the rich, have surfaced in the Panama Papers. On the Bangladesh Bank scam, the resignation of Atiur Rahman from the governor’s post, had become a more important issue than the heist that affected national interest.

To read more details of the 2016 cyber robbery of Bangladesh’s money, should the people have to wait for another wave of divulgence that would bring the names of the culprits to the fore?