Bangladesh needs a truth commission for economic crimes: Lutfey Siddiqi
Bangladesh needs a truth commission for economic crimes and to examine how non-performing loans were created under the previous regime, Special Envoy to the Chief Adviser on international affairs Lutfey Siddiqi said today (11 December).
"We have to form a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for economic crime and how NPLs were created," he said this morning during a discussion at a city hotel organised by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh on failures and resolutions in banking.
"I think we have to create a taxonomy because that is the only way we can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past," he added.
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He said, "Imagine a hypothetical situation: right now we have a very large fraudulent defaulter who was very close to the previous regime. They probably have a thousand crore taka in non-performing loans. Bangladesh needs a truth commission for economic crimes," said the special envoy.
"If I become chairman of one of the public or private sector banks tomorrow and I see that I have a criminal with associations with the previous regime but they owe me a few thousand crore taka, if I can rehabilitate that person, maybe they will pay me half of that. My balance sheet will be protected."
