Opposition lawmakers on Monday lambasted the government for capital flight as well as corruption, irregularities and indiscipline in the financial sector.

Participating in the discussion on the supplementary budget for the fiscal year 2020–21 in the Jatiya Sangsad, they said that the financial sector was going through an awful situation because of poor monitoring, corruption and money laundering.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker Md Harunur Rashid said that the prime minister had said that her government had taken a ‘zero tolerance’ policy against corruption while her finance minister was giving scope for legalising undisclosed money, showing the government’s contradictory stand on corruption prevention.

He said that ensuring justice and allowing corrupt people to legalise undisclosed money were not possible at the same time.

Another BNP lawmaker, Rumeen Farhana, said that the government had arranged for banks to be under single-family ownership by amending the Bank Company Act.

‘People’s money is being  plundered. A list of loan defaulters was published in the parliament. What was the action taken against them? Over Tk 1 lakh crore has been siphoned out of the country through over- and under-invoicing. Money is also laundered through hundi and only God knows what the total amount of money laundered [so far] is,’ she said.

Jatiya Party lawmaker Kazi Firoz Rashid said that because of a poor control of the finance minister over the banking sector directors of a bank were embezzling money from another bank.

He suggested that the government should establish branches of the Anti-Corruption Commission in Canada, Malaysia and Australia in order to find out how much money was laundered to those countries.

‘Regular Bangladesh Bank audits could prevent the scope for heists in the financial sector. What is the finance minister doing? ’ said the lawmaker.

The ACC has, he further noted, failed to provide lists of owners of second homes or of investors in Canada, America and Malaysia despite a High Court directive in this regard.

Jatiya Party lawmaker Rowshan Ara Mannan likened the country’s banking sector and financial institutions to oppressed orphans.

‘Nobody is there to stop corruption and ensure punishment of corrupt people [in the country],’ she added.

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told the Jatiya Sangsad that 15 laws would be enacted in the next one year as the government was pursuing a zero-tolerance policy against irregularities in the financial sector.