Escalating Money Laundering Under Awami League Rule: A Silent Menace in Bangladesh

When the Awami League came to power under Sheikh Hasina, it witnessed an enormous surge in financial crime issues such as money laundering. Though it is safe to expect that some degree of money laundering is occurring, the larger issue is the lack of accountability from the people in power. Authority figures have the liberty to commit these offenses and, worst of all, face no repercussions.

There are already so many elements that can end the existence of Bangladesh, but first on the list is money laundering. Trust towards institutions are depleted, laws and order are on paper only and corruption is bound to skyrocket in parallel with the extraordinarily high profits obtained from the never ending plight of the citizens’ every day suffering.

If a claim is not made about those who attempt to sympathize with government officials that are facing accusations of laundering money, then without applying some proactive measures, it is guaranteed that those officials will do as they please without any consequences for their actions. This issue, in fact, is so prominent and rest assured the level of money laundering needs to be dealt with much more thoughtfully.

This provides a high degree of immunity not only to the money launderers, but is a sure fire way to ensure that crime is sinless.

Bangladesh, if no serious action is taken against the citizens, will be placing it’s global reputation, that is already difficult to maintain, in jeopardy and endangering its financial infrastructure. Just like any nefarious act, money laundering has burgeoned without any supervision from the society, and sits unguarded as a crime. The infusion out of funds from Bangladesh single handedly has catastrophic consequences on the socio-economic parameters of the nation by exacerbating poverty and income disparity. Eliminating money arbitration from the society is not only the responsibility of law enforcement agencies and police. There is a call for all other arms of the government and even private stakeholders to join in. In addition, there should be some form of proactive oversight on the inter-party financial dealings and transactions. Laws such as these should also punish money offenders and assist them in accomplishing their illegal objectives. Equally important to instill in individuals is the fostering of the willingness to bear conflict consequences on all parts of society. A step in the right direction in that regard would be allowing journalists to freely cover or comment on white collar offenses without the constraints of filters that restricts them from covering the ‘chilling effect’.

Being citizens of Bangladesh, we can endeavor to enhance the culture of accountability from our leaders and institutions. This, however, is only possible when we make an effort to actively participate in solving the problems of our society. While working towards pragmatic shifts in the socio-economic structure, as well as trying to tackle the issues of fraud and money laundering, we need to focus on bringing justice to our society.