Allegation of Tk92 thousand crore looted from banking sector is absurd: Momen
Momen also said if the CPD has an informative and objective account, the government will accept it.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue's (CPD) allegation of Tk92,261 crore having been stolen from Bangladesh's banking sector through 24 major scams since the fiscal year 2008-09 is absurd, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said.
"Unfortunately many of those in the CPD are Russian economists. They sit at home and come up with strange numbers. Economists like them are responsible for the disintegration of a big country like Russia into nineteen pieces," the minister said while speaking to journalists during a public meeting in the Ambarkhana area of Sylhet yesterday.
Momen also said if the CPD has an informative and objective account, the government will accept it.
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The foreign minister criticised CPD for bringing up the issue of the Tk23,000 wage demand of garment workers and said that if their demand is implemented, garment factories will be closed.
After talking to the journalists, Momen, also the Awami League candidate for Sylhet-1 constituency and the incumbent MP, campaigned for the upcoming 12th national election in Ambarkhana area.
On 23 December, the CPD said during a press conference that since 2008, more than Tk92,000 crore have been embezzled from the banking sector through 24 major loan irregularities.
AL General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday said CPD itself needs to address the allegations it has raised regarding irregularities in the country's banking sector.
"Where has the money gone? We want to know that. The money will be brought back to the country if the organisation provides detailed information," Quader said.
Expressing his lack of knowledge about the CPD report, Quader said, "Whether it's Debapriya [Debapriya Bhattacharya] or Mustafiz [Professor Mustafizur Rahman] who authored the report, we demand information on the whereabouts of the money. We are committed to bringing those funds back."
Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud alleged that the CPD had not conducted genuine research in preparing the report.
"They simply compiled a report based on some newspaper clippings and held a press conference. Their statements are nothing but blatant lies," he said on 25 December.
He continued, "Although the CPD press conference talked about research, in reality, it takes a considerable amount of time and information that is unlikely to be gathered by the organisation.
