Loopholes in financial system led to Hall-Mark scam: Barkat

The Hall-Mark loan scam was caused due to the loopholes in the financial system of the country, President of Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) Abul Barkat said yesterday.
“It cannot happen that no body at the bank (Sonali Bank) knew anything about the unusual transaction of more than Tk 3,600 crore at a branch,” he said.
Barkat spoke at press conference on the upcoming 18th biennial conference of the association
Some private commercial banks are also involved in wrongdoings, so the media should also talk about them, he said.
The BEA organised the press conference at its Eskaton headquarters to brief journalists about the three-day event that begins in the capital today.
He said the biennial conference of the association will help the nation adopt a timely policy to achieve the targets of the government's Vision-2021.
The theme of this year's conference is "Global Economy and Vision 2021".
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the event at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, where four persons will be awarded BEA Gold Medal-2012.
The award recipients are Prof Dr Mohammad Akhlakur Rahman (posthumous), Prof Dr Muzaffer Ahmed (posthumous), Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad and Prof Dr Muinul Islam.
The BEA president said the government plans to turn Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2021 when the nation will celebrate its 50 years of independence.
“But it's not an easy task. It's a very tough job in the current perspective of the global economy,” he said.
According to Barkat, who is also a professor of economics at Dhaka University, the gravity of global economy is gradually shifting towards Asia from Europe and North America.
“This shift has created both challenges and opportunities for Bangladesh. This requires proper policy steps."
The conference of the economists will definitely help devise an effective plan to successfully tackle the crisis, he said, adding that eight keynote papers on various issues will be presented at the conference.