White collar crimes galore in Bangladesh

White-collar crime, the term first used by the renowned criminologist Edwin Sutherland, describes the abhorrent offenses committed by the people from the higher class socio-economic background or the respectable personality. Currently, this is relevant and appeared as a thorn in throat for the underdeveloped country like Bangladesh. In recent time, the NRB officers scandal has become talk of the country. The story had started with a storm in a tea cup through a goat. Over the moment, plenty of hidden things have come to the light among the people & get revealed.

Embezzlement, trafficking of public properties, earning mammoth amount of illegal resources, abuse of power & status, leading polygamy but lavish life from family members both in the country & overseas of govt servant are expressing how these things become possible. Whatever, todays topic is about white-collar crime. For making the topic much clearer to the viewers, this occurrence was the suitable example. Now lets have a look how it works & what are the impacts.

"The usual suspect", a movie from Hollywood where a catchy line was used as food for thought is "the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world... he did not exist".  This phrase is deeply rooted with the nature of a criminal who commits the mentioned crimes. More specifically, as the criminal belongs to a position from the higher class, he is generally out of the count as a man to keep an eye for being convicted. The society can think of his blemish due to habitual idolatry of his personality & the status. Status & power create a veil to the eyes of people and make offender impeccable to pursue his agenda. Thus, he diddles like that devil which the devil used as trick!
The types of white-collar crime are various, i.e. embezzlement, loan default, nepotism, money laundering, tax evasion, cybercrime, extortion, bribery etc. The common characteristics of these kinds of crime is that they are non-violent... committed by deceitful trick and creates hamper in a big scale at mass level. In terms of economic vulnerability for a nation, impact of that crime can be compared with silent poison or soundless exploitation where the outcomes make general people scapegoat through the violation of their trust and embezzling their property. For the last couple of years, we are observing such heinous occurrences from the different renowned sectors & public figure.

According to the center for policy dialogue (CPD), more than 92,000 crore taka have been embezzled by 24 major loans scam since 2008.  The latest update of 2023 by The World Bank & various central banks, Bangladesh ranks second highest in loan default among the South Asian nations. The rate was about 10.11% of total loans. Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) estimated that, about 87% rich & upper middle-class people of the country are evading taxes. Here are some gruesome scenarios and the prevalence of statistical reports.

Transparency International Bangladesh revealed a report that around 3.6 billion USD is sent out of Bangladesh illegally each year. According to GFI statistics, every year the average amount of 7.53 billion USD is laundered from the country, which is equivalent to Taka 640 billion. Now lets add up how these are uprooting the economic stability & increasing class exploitation for the nation.

For the last 15 years, Bangladesh government has undertaken to implement a numerous number of mega project. Noticeably, most of the project have implemented through the foreign funding as a debt. Until December 2023, external debt has reached about more than 100 billion USD for Bangladesh, whereas the current reserve is about 18.4 billion USD till the last May. Needless to say economically we re in vulnerable condition and the concurrent inflation in market are its outcome. In one side the poor classes are being the sufferer & some people from elite class are convicted & involved in tax evasion, money laundering, embezzlement in another side which creates economic & social unrest simultaneously.  

People from elite class are committing crime willingly and their offenses playing the influencing role to do offenses by the poor class forcefully due to the economic unrest.  When theres no way to survive, morality doesn work whatsoever. Total procedure can be considered as a chain reaction of social maladjustment where the birth of the defect is from the abuse of resources & power by elite class by making people with lower income a scapegoat. So, by analyzing the holistic frame, its needless to say who are responsible behind this.

At the end, question may arise who is to bell the cat?  If the ghost exists in the mustard, then theres nothing left to see the destruction. If not, then who else without the ensuring of good governance. A transparent, accountable, unbiased, responsible governing system is the precondition of good governance. Without effective initiatives along with zero tolerance from the govt level & the patriotic role from the law enforcement agencies, the hidden demons of the nation will be ingurgitating the economy of the nation & their acts will remain exist as a thorn in throat for the national development in a big scale.

Bangladesh, the flower was bloomed almost 53 years ago through the bloody rubicon & mass sacrifices. To inform its distinct existence in the world map, people of this land had to pass innumerable ups & downs. At last, we got an ethnic identity, a map, a land, a Constitution which are sacred for us. One of the four principles in constitution of the nation was socialism, 8(1). If our government fails to prevent such a crime from the elite class, definitely the constitutional base will be questioned practically & economy will be fragile enough to sink the nation. Besides, as a nation the sacrifices of the martyrs will be betrayed !

The writer is a Columnist , Post-Graduate, University Of Rajshahi