If the law enforcers have most of the time tiptoed right on the heels of counterfeiters of currency notes, the distance at times widened with the most unwelcome negative impact on monetary and business transactions. The negative impact is felt by way of direct loss and loss in confidence. There were times when people started looking with suspicion at any bank note they received from each other. Suddenly, the unearthing of underworld gangs engaged in manufacturing counterfeit notes from several places creates the impression that the chances of ending up with some of the illegal 'legal tenders' are quite high. It is during such times rife with mistrust that the authorities of the central bank come up with a campaign of making people familiarise with the genuine notes by publishing differences in features between those and the fake ones. A step-up campaign send the counterfeiters to inaction until the clamour dies down and they resurface with subtler designs to carry on with their vile activities.
The problem exactly lies here. Punishment meted out to counterfeiters is light enough for them to get out of the prison and mostly the gang reassemble to relapse into the vice like drug addicts. Now it appears that the authorities have woken up to this fact and are looking for a remedy to this. A draft law formulated by the Bangladesh Bank is reportedly undergoing vetting at the Ministry of Finance. The proposed law will strengthen the central bank in fighting currency fraud in that the punishment is likely to be stringent enough to act as a deterrent to such unholy practices. This sounds good but putting in place an effective deterrent to financial crimes including manufacturing fake currency notes has always been a tough ask.
Why? It would be foolish to view counterfeiting notes in isolation from various other banking, business and industrial malfeasance. The majority of banks, those so-called public-sector ones in particular -- recurrently incur losses and hobble with time-to-time infusion of blood by the government. Bulging non-performing loans are mainly responsible for rendering the banks losing concerns. Delinquent borrowers are plundering banks' funds which are their clients' deposits. This means that the banks are a means to giving the privileged the opportunity to misuse depositors' money whereas small defaulters are not spared. Money laundering and possessing second homes abroad, as disclosed by Panama papers and other sources, would not be possible without the lenient attitude of the government towards the wilful loan defaulters.
Counterfeiters are surely criminals but they are not the big fish and the cog of the crime wheel. Unless or until the bigwigs in the world of financial crime are taken care of, some people will feel motivated to go for illegal practices in order to make quick bucks no matter how severe the punishment is in case they get caught. There is need for transparency in the official circle first -- a prerequisite for cleaning the Augean stable. This done, business and financial crimes can be dealt with. Following this, counterfeiting will pose no problem for law enforcers. Its practitioners will be dragged out of their holes within hours or days to root out the cause for ever.
