Sri Lankan central bank did whatever its rulers ordered: Salehuddin
Former Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed on Saturday said oligarchs are responsible for quick collapse of Sri Lanka despite all indicators of economy were performing well.
The island nation created oligarchs and did not take necessary measures timely.
A successful governor of Sri Lanka resigned because the government did listened to him and whatever happened there was done by the ruler and the central bank carried out the orders of the rulers, he said.
Salehuddin Ahmed made these remarks while addressing a seminar titled “Present Crisis, liability and Solution” organised by Nagorik Oikya at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity in the capital.
The former central bank governor said, “We will take lessons from Sri Lanka; they did not address the problems on time; they had long been facing these problems; there are lots of intellectuals but the Lankan government did not listen to them.”
Demanding punishment to money launderers, Salehuddin Ahmed said previously the amount of defaulted loan was Tk 220 billion (22,000 crore), now it rose to Tk 1.25 trillion (125,000 crore).
How is it possible? How did defaulted loans rise by six to seven times quickly? Policymakers know well who laundered money but the government did not take stern actions to prevent money laundering, he added.
Nagorik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna said, “Laundering dollars is our main crisis. You may recall a minster telling the parliament that bureaucrats own more houses in Begumpara of Canada than our politicians and prime minister herself said this too. She said she knows who launder the money. At that time, many people including me said if she knows who launder money she must file case against them but they did not do anything. And what would happen if we say now that they patronise the money launderers.”
Mahmudur Rahman further said, “Whether we do want it or not the situation in Bangladesh has turned into an issue of international talks and International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva warned several more countries may face the crisis like Sri Lanka several days ago. The BBC published a report referring to her remarks and enlisted Bangladesh, Pakistan, Laos and Maldives.”
Energy expert BD Rahmatullah said no one will find quick rental power project anywhere in the world other than Bangladesh. Unlimited corruption and lootings is on not only in power sector but also in all sectors.