Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, one of the most beleaguered people in Bangladesh as a last desperate measure has asked for names from the Opposition of money launderers. This is not the first time that the authorities in Bangladesh have sought the help of the Opposition and can be read as a political stunt. It really doesn’t make anyone feel happy when so much of it is happening around. If the minister was trying to sound helpless, he did but it’s not that names are missing but because the will to move against them is limited. Only he can say why this is so.
The minister said in the parliament that he doesn’t have a list of the launderers. “I don’t have a list of those who are taking away the money,” stated the minister in parliament on Monday when the Opposition sought a remark on the issue of money laundering. He added that the government was making strong efforts to prevent money laundering: “Many people are in jail. They are being tried. It isn’t like the past, when the practice was overwhelming.”
Sadly, what came out of this exchange is a certain light hearted attitude in dealing with the problem. To ask the Opposition to provide names when the Government is in charge is not a joke in good taste at this point of time. The question does remain hanging in the air and the evasive reply of the minister is troubling. Why doesn’t the Government think this is a serious problem that deserves serious handling?
It’s a troubling question that doesn’t have a simple answer. Perhaps, money laundering is so common that it no longer is considered worth tracking down. Most of the rich people in town are probably money launderers and that number may run literally into a few million. So from a practical point of view, it’s just about anyone who has a pot of money. Not all but almost all.
Then comes the issue of black money, which is all around and almost beyond control. It’s such a huge economy that it’s no longer considered a matter of crime or shame. Much of that is flown out because the total volume is so big that it can’t be absorbed in the local economy. The stock exchanges do consume much but hardly enough. Since most people are into black money, the numbers are so big that it can’t be tracked.
All of the above brings us finally to the doors of crony capitalism and its impact. In every economy where it has been established there are some attendant symptoms and one of them is money laundering. Money is made, paid and handled through a fundamentally dishonest system which leads to the storage of part of the money elsewhere. In other words, those participating in this economy and are involved in the means mentioned are basically part of the money laundering scene.
Given that it’s only fair that the minister would not know the names of the money senders. How many can he possibly know? Paradise is full of money launderers.
