$16b siphoned off every year on avg during AL rule

An average of 16 billion dollars were illicitly siphoned off from Bangladesh every year during Sheikh Hasina’s corrupt autocracy, leaving the country in a state of plunder when she fled after a popular mass uprising, according to the White Paper on the state of the economy.

The committee that prepared the white paper submitted its report to Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at his Tejgaon office today, saying they were horrified by the level of corruption, plunder, and statistical manipulation conducted by Hasina’s regime, the Chief Advisers’ Press Wing said in a press release.

Debapriya Bhattacharya, a top economist and the distinguished fellow of the Dhaka-based think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue, headed the committee. He led his team at the handover ceremony.

Chief Adviser Prof Yunus thanked the committee for the landmark effort, saying it should be published once it is finalised and be taught in textbooks in national college and university curricula.

“This is a historic document. It will show us the economy we inherited after the July-August mass uprising. The nation will benefit from this document,” said the Chief Adviser in his short speech before receiving the White Paper.

“Our blood curdles to know how they plundered the economy. The sad part is they looted the economy openly. And most of us could not summon courage to confront it,” he said.

Even the multilateral agencies that monitor Bangladesh’s economy were also largely silent when this plunder took place, he said.

Head of the committee, Debapriya Bhattacharya, said they worked independently without any interference from the government.

“The problem is deeper than what we have thought,” he said, adding that the 30-chapter and 400-page long White Paper will show how crony capitalism gave birth to the Oligarchs, who controlled policy framing.

Committee member Prof AK Enamul Haque said in the last 15 years, over Tk 700,000 crore was spent on the Annual Development Programme (ADP), and 40 percent of the money was plundered by bureaucrats.

Committee member Mustafizur Rahman said they examined seven large projects out of 29 projects with over Tk 10,000 crore expenditure outlay. The total expenses on 29 large projects were $87 billion, or Tk 7,80,000 crore. The estimated initial cost of the seven projects examined was Tk 1,14,000 crore. The project costs were later revised to Tk 1,95,000 crore by adding many components, showing inflated land prices, and manipulating purchases.

The project costs were raised almost 70 percent without analysing the cost benefit, he said.

He also suggested the start of special prosecution to try people who were involved in money laundering.

Committee member Mohammad Abu Eusuf revealed that the amount of tax exemption during the past regime was six percent of the total GDP of the country.

If it could be reduced to half, the education budget could be doubled and the health budget could be tripled, he said.

M Tamim, another member of the committee, said $30 billion was invested on power generation, and if the kickback was considered 10 percent, the amount would be at least $3 billion.

Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur, Principal Secretary Sirajuddin Sathi, and Senior Secretary Lamiya Morshed were also present.

The report is expected to be made available for the public soon.

With the approval of the chief adviser of the interim government, this committee was formed on August 29, headed by Debapriya, a prominent economist, convenor of Citizen Platform Bangladesh for SDG Implementation, and Honourary Fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

Later, 11 renowned experts of the country were included as members of this committee.

The white paper highlights six areas, including government financial management, internal resources, public expenditure (public investment, ADP, subsidies, and loans), and deficit budget financing issues.

Additionally, it covers inflation and food management, which focuses on production, government purchases, and food distribution. Another area the white paper reviews is the external balance, which addresses exports, imports, remittance earnings, foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign exchange reserves, foreign financing effects, and debt.

The white paper also reviews the macroeconomic and fiscal situation alongside sectors like education, health, energy, banking, tax collection, money laundering, mega projects, poverty, and inequality.