Make draft Bank Companies Act public
The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has urged the government to publish the draft Bank Companies (Amendment) Act for the interest of the people.
"This is not a secret document, so it should be published," said the anti-graft organisation in a press release yesterday.
The cabinet approved the draft of the Act in order to reform the banking sector on March 28.
When the draft got the nod from the cabinet nearly one month ago, it was expected that the government would publish it in order to receive feedback and recommendations from stakeholders as usual practices of the current government, the TIB said.
"But the document has not been published yet."
Quoting media reports, the press release said the TIB was astonished when it came to know that the banking division of the finance ministry declined to share the draft Act with a mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently, citing it as a classified document.
As per the reform actions agreed with the IMF for the $4.7 billion loan programme, the government is supposed to submit the draft to parliament by June.
In any logic, the draft Act, which is directly linked with the public interests, can't be a classified document. But there might be a question of whether the amendment has given priority to the interest of vested groups rather than protecting the interest of the public.
Confusion is being created over a document that is not classified and this is because the policies of the banking sector are dictated by loan defaulters and people involved with loan scams and capital flight, the TIB alleged.
So, the draft should be made public as soon as possible, it said.
Default loans in the banking sector increased 16.8 per cent year-on-year to Tk 120,656 crore last year, central bank data showed.
The TIB said the draft should be finalised in a transparent manner by incorporating the feedback and recommendations of experts and stakeholders.
"Otherwise, the government's will to restore good governance in the banking sector will remain questionable."
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