Transparency International Bangladesh on Monday urged the government to formulate an ownership transparency law, as well as join the Common Reporting Standard to save the country's banking sector.
In a press release, the Berlin-based multinational civil society organization also expressed its concern over the recent alleged loan scams in three private banks, including Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd.
The irregularities involving thousands of crore taka coupled with money laundering have pushed the country's banking sector to the brink of collapse, it added.
The news of taking out thousands of crores of take from several banks in loans is very alarming for the country's economy, TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman stated in the release.
The Common Reporting Standard, developed in response to the G20 request and approved by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Council, sets out the financial account information to be exchanged, the financial institutions required to report, the different types of accounts and taxpayers covered, as well as common due diligence procedures to be followed by financial institutions.
"A small customer has to provide a lot of documents to get a small loan, then how do fake companies get such big loans? The total amount of defaulted loans has risen six folds in the past 14 years. Even, the loans cannot be recovered for frequent changes in the definition of defaulted loans and rescheduling. Who benefits from the loan scams?" the TIB executive director added.
"After the much-talked-about BASIC Bank scam and PK Haldar fraud in the recent past, why did we not learn a lesson?"
On money laundering, the TIB chief said the government has failed to prevent the irregularity.
"In addition to probing the latest loan scam cases, appropriate measures should be taken immediately so that these funds cannot be smuggled abroad in any way. Joining the Common Reporting Standard is a must. At the same time, a law on beneficial ownership transparency should be enacted for the private sector banks immediately," Iftekharuzzaman added.
