It is not ACC’s business to advice on banking license

THE Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has recommended in a report that license for opening of any bank or non-bank financial institution should not be given under political consideration. The New Nation reported on Saturday that the anti-graft body has also said in the report to be submitted to a High Court Bench next week that the government should set up a strong high powered board to recover the money laundered from banks and non-bank financial institutions. It suggested that the board may be set up with skilled, experienced and honest people from Bangladesh Bank, universities, and other organizations to recover money big borrowers not paying and powerful people laundered abroad to buy real estate assets.
One may be confused with the ACC’s recommendations which said license for banks and non-bank financial institutions should not be given on political consideration though it is a quite valid point and everybody in the country opposed to it except powerful ruling party men had always pushing for it. We wonder why the ACC has suddenly come up with the recommendation which is not its subject. It has so far failed to prosecute any big bank robbers and money launderers and reportedly sheltered such powerful people many ways.
Everyone knows that all 60 banks now operating in the country were licensed on political consideration to the party men. The banking law also has been intriguingly amended to turn the banks into family banks owned by political families. In recent times a single senior banker, his friends and family members laundered over Tk 10,000 crore from several banks and NBFIs and left the country. The entire banking sector is now facing collapse and depositors money at high risk. But if the existing government regulatory bodies fail to act, how the government which is itself highly corrupt and many of its leaders are linked to bank robberies and money laundering, how will it be able to find honest persons to form a high powered board to discipline the banking sector.
The fact is that the ACC has so far failed to forward names and identity of government officials to the High Court who have laundered big money from the country and bought assets abroad. We would wait the ACC will give those names next week and prove it is worthy of public trust.