Money stolen from banks in one case amounts to 105 times of average Bangladeshi’s lifetime income: White Paper

The amount of money stolen from banks, through each case of embezzlement, by "big players" is nearly 105 times the estimated lifetime income of the average Bangladeshi, according to the final draft of the White Paper on State of the Bangladesh Economy.

The document, which was submitted to the chief adviser today (1 December), said embezzlement of big chunks of money from different banks by a number of groups through fake companies or without proper documentation became a privilege of large borrowers.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) documented 24 cases of malfeasance involving forgery, embezzlement, fraud, theft, money laundering, misappropriations and irregularities from compilations of published reports during 2008-23, it said.

The perpetrators include the Hallmark Group, Bismillah Group, AnnonTex, Regent Hospital, NRB Global Bank and so on, all big players, said the White Paper.

"All the 24 cases together added up to Tk 922.6 billion or Tk 3.86 billion or $32 million per case. Average per capita income in Bangladesh is about $2600. If the average person earns this income for 50 years with an annual growth of 10 per cent, she makes $0.31 million in her lifetime.

"The stolen amount per case is nearly 105 times this estimate of the lifetime income of the average Bangladeshi," read the document.