Govt silent on smuggled money

Thousands of crores of taka were embezzled from banks and smuggled abroad with the government remaining silent to get the money back, said eminent jurist Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday.

“I do not see any visible step…” in this regard, he said.

The corrupt involved in looting the country's wealth should be brought to book in a bid to ensure people's rights, he added.

Dressed in “black coats”, the “perpetrators” committed such illegal activities, said Dr Kamal, also president of Gonoforum.

He was addressing a views exchange meeting with lawyers at Dhaka Reporters' Unity.

Jatiya Oikya Prokriya, a citizen's platform, organised the meeting on “Role of lawyers to create national unity”.

Dr Kamal said news reports on money embezzlement from banks were published while the finance minister did not disagree with those.

The country is experiencing “mindless” looting of money even after 46 years of independence.

He said one of the historic six-point demand was to save money from being misappropriated into the erstwhile West Pakistan and people struggled for it back then.

Marking Bangabandhu's birthday, Dr Kamal said creating unity among countrymen was the core idea of Bangabandhu.

“Will we not follow the idea?” he said.

He also urged the lawyers to wage movements to save the country from “thieves”.