Banking sector fully destroyed: Mahmudur Rahman Manna
The country's banking sector has been completely destroyed in the last 15 years as its control has been handed over to pro-government business groups, alleges Mahmudur Rahman Manna, convener of the Nagorik Oikya.
Addressing a seminar at the Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday, the politician also alleged that nearly Tk11 lakh crore has been siphoned off from the country in disguise of legal exports and imports during the period.
He said the government failed to stop the capital flight even after controlling imports as a tool for addressing the dollar crisis, adding that the recent dollar price hike will shoot up commodity prices further.
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"The main reason for Bangladesh's present economic debacle is the government's authoritarian rule," Manna told the seminar.
According to him, the power sector has become another tool for the government to steal people's money. Still, the government's debt in the sector crossed Tk44,000 crore.
Addressing the seminar, Asif Nazrul, professor of law at Dhaka University, said, "The so-called opposition party in the parliament does not have the power to ask logical questions. The government is misappropriating Tk80,000 crore against Tk20,000 crore in development expenditure. There is no available data on that."
He said the parliamentarians do not hold the government accountable and can't raise questions with regard to capacity charge payments, quick rentals, and excessive project expenditure in the power sector.
Asif alleged that Bangladesh has never seen such a government with spirit against the Liberation War.
"After 2014, this government has destroyed all types of spirits from the Liberation War," he said.
Nagorik Oikya General Secretary Shahidullah Qaiser, Presidium Member Mominul Islam, among others, also spoke at the seminar.
