Prof Anu Muhammad, Member Secretary, National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports: Around 140,000 tonnes of coal has vanished into thin air from Brapukuria. I think the smuggling is not possible without involvement of the high-ups.
It takes 14,000 trucks, each with a capacity of 10 tonnes, to smuggle the huge quantity of coal. The act of theft had been going on for a long time. This time the news surfaced since the supply of coal has exhausted in toto. The news of coal miss  ing could not be covered up as the production at thermal power plant suspended.
Apart from the officials of Barapukuria, the high-ups of the ministry have a hand in the fraud. In our country the culprits go scot-free on most occasions and it is not difficult to please the higher authorities. The door to corruption is open where judiciary, administration, central bank and ministry remain dysfunctional.
The incidents happening one after another in the country are not isolated, rather inter-linked. Earlier, question arose over the reserve heist of Bangladesh’s central bank. Now the question is over the gold stored in the vault of Bangladesh Bank. As a bank, Bangladesh Bank is believed to be the most secure place.
Any anomaly in the central bank naturally poses danger to the whole economy. Crores of dollars have gone out of the Bangladesh Bank and we have learnt about it from the media reports. The probe body has not disclosed its findings yet and no punitive action was taken against the responsible people. People raising questions in this connection become victims of enforced disappearance. Anomaly is no wonder this is scenario of a central bank. The volt has developed cracks long ago.
Bangladesh Bank monitors and regulates all the banks of the country. The central bank is supposed to take necessary actions against the banks in case of any irregularity or graft. However, the central bank has proved that it has failed miserably to play its due role. The finance minister has also proved that he failed to discharge his responsibilities as per the constitution.
Some marked men plundered thousands of crores of taka from banks like BASIC Bank, Farmers Bank and Sonali Bank. Bangladesh Bank has not taken any action in this regard.
Such massive corruption is not possible unless there is patronage from behind the scene. Massive irregularities are not possible without bribing the higher authorities and collaborating with the influential quarter.
Small-scale corruption is possible but large-scale not. The big guns usually slip through the dragnet. No action is taken when thousands of crores of taka are plundered.
The Prime Minister most often speaks against corruption. The PM’s speech should build confidence among us but we can hardly rest assured. Because there is no precedence that culprits face the music. We cannot rest assured unless exemplary punishments are meted out to the big criminals. We hope that there will be fundamental change to the situation.
Based on an interview by Muhammad Nayeem, translated by Hossen Sohel