Close to a year after eighty million dollars were hacked out of Bangladesh's reserves, the wisdom of knowledge is shrivelled and thin. A probe body finding remains firmly undisclosed with a pouting Finance Minister finally refusing to disclose anything until the money is back, mostly from the Philippine banking system. The head of the probe body is a man of ethics and even the media can't get him to leak anything out. Why it is taking this long for the money to be returned after authorities in the Philippines have cleared it, is strange.Â
To the best of knowledge, those involved or under investigation have had travel documents seized and probably kept under watch. Nothing more has been heard of the young information technology (IT) specialist who began to say things that were embarrassing, vanished for a while and resurfaced to hold his peace. Intriguingly, the connection between return of the funds and disclosing the report is murky. Why criminal proceedings haven't begun is just as intriguing. In a way, the event follows the rather unsavoury course of others, all related to the banking sector where billions have gone missing along with most of the perpetrators, except those fortunate few who can puff out their chests and give an 'up yours' to all of us.
Inherent in all of this is an urgent need for revisiting the process that allows such leakage. In case of the reserves it is better most didn't know of the new security measures in place. But at the end of the day the human element cannot be overlooked in any of the processes. Individuals must be found, and they do exist who are beyond the temptation of wealth and proud of patriotism, no matter how much Leo Tolstoy decried it.Â
The economy may be on a sound footing but cracks are beginning to show if consumer uptake is anything to go by. The money being used to bolster up capital shortfall is not anything to be proud of, in a country that wasn't hit by global misadventure. Personal misdemeanours are to be handled by the law. The sooner the better. And money eked out of revenue and such sources were better used for public interest, not that of a few who would do it again.
If there is a surprise element to all the 'hide and seek', maybe it's worth waiting a while longer. With exceptions, such waits for justice haven't produced much. And if 'forgive and forget' is the motto, governance will sink into a quagmire of discontent.Â
mahmudrahman@gmail.com
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