It is said that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Indeed, it was the extraordinary measures by the students of Bangladesh that brought on the Monsoon Revolution and the subsequent exposing of the largest theft in history. The looting was so extreme, and Professor Yunus’ reputation so pristine, that foreign governments and international agencies are all lining up and offering their assistance in recovering the stolen loot and bringing the perpetrators to justice. It is thus all the more incomprehensible that it is the government itself that is dragging its feet on this.
Before delving into the details, it needs to be said that the government has done a stellar job with some issues. For example, the Bangladesh Bank and the governor deserve praise for the manner in which the arrears have been paid down without taking a penalty on the exchange rate. Personally, as my past writings will show, I have been a champion of this interim government, as I feel it is the only hope of putting together enough reforms that we do not simply get a repeat of the last 15 years with different actors. One thing Professor Yunus has repeatedly said, however, is that he wants to hear feedback, whether from the media, from NRBs, or anyone with something substantial to say. It is in that spirit that I wish to focus on today’s topic.
If you peruse the high end used car selling platforms or art auction houses in the UK, you come across a curious phenomenon. Valuable possessions of some of the looters are being sold, many at a significant discount, which implies the seller is in a hurry. Needless to say, the proceeds are not on their way back to Bangladesh, it would be a safe guess that these will find their way into cryptos and other hard to trace assets. At the same time, the looters in various parts of the world have all built world class legal teams who will build complex defenses for their clients in anticipation of the claims that are expected to come.
The surprise here is not what the looters are doing, the big surprise is what the Bangladesh government is not doing. Why has the government not reached out to the all the different platforms and requested that these sales be held because the people of Bangladesh have a claim? Why hasn’t the legal team representing Bangladesh ensured that the assets of the looters are frozen?
The answer to the last question is actually quite easy. It turns out no legal team has been appointed yet. In fact, the task force that was established in early October to focus on asset recovery will not even have its first meeting until mid November. In the meantime, many of the assets will have disappeared into crypto space. You don’t send a rickshaw to chase down a Ferrari. The lackadaisical response by the government is truly baffling.
In fact, most of what little has actually moved forward has happened because of one or two volunteers who have tirelessly been working on the cause, or because journalists have exposed things, not because of any government effort. The general attitude is quite defeatist, with strong doubts on whether any assets can actually be recovered. Imagine if the students who gave their lives had had the same attitude. We would not be here today.
The truth is that assets can indeed be recovered. Nobody said it was going to be easy, but it can and has been done. Perhaps Bangladeshis are so used to the corruption and looting that it is difficult to grasp that other governments have various laws and acts that can be used to go after the loot. In the US, for example, there is the Magnitsky Act, which was established in 2012. It was initially used to go after Russian oligarchs, but has subsequently been used in various corruption cases, notably the Gupta case in South Africa.
Foreign governments are actually offering help. There was a meeting in the UK with six UK members of parliament after the Al Jazeera report on just one individual came out. Multiple agencies from the UK have already sent teams to Bangladesh to investigate, but they found the Bangladesh side uncoordinated, disorganized, and lacking any sort of urgency. It is hard to comprehend what has lulled our bureaucracy into this sense of indifference. For the first time ever in our history, foreign governments are all aligned waiting to help and we are completely missing the boat.
The disorganization can be found at multiple levels. While the Bangladesh Bank is focused on the bank looters, it is not interested in what members of the ruling family may have embezzled, because it apparently does not fall within its jurisdiction. That, of course, begs the question whose jurisdiction it does fall under and what is being done to present a coordinated case to the foreign agencies which need to act?
We cannot hide behind the fact that it took Nigeria decades to recover their embezzled assets or that other countries have struggled. With the exception of the Malaysian 1MDB case, other governments did not have the kind of universal international support that our current administration enjoys. The cabinet is clearly stretched very thin, with several advisors facing the impossible job of managing multiple portfolios. As a result, many things are not getting the attention they deserve.
At the end of the day, the choice is quite simple. If the government does not raise the urgency and cannot show any results on recovering loot and going after perpetrators, then it is telling Bangladeshis that their dream career is to illegally accumulate as much wealth as possible and stash it overseas. There is no shame, no consequence and a much better retirement package than their pensions. We might as well have the universities start teaching students how to embezzle money.
Task forces have their place. They work well for long term policy changes and reforms. They are hopelessly inadequate for dealing with urgent situations like this.
Of course, criticizing is easy and words are cheap, so what would I do? One thing I learned on Wall Street and that is true for corporate America in general is that the only way to make things happen is to give people ownership and authority. This is an urgent enough task that I would appoint one person to lead the entire asset recovery effort, with no exceptions. This leader has to be a direct report of the chief advisor and have authority to get all the agencies to cooperate and put together the evidence that is needed in each case.
This is much too urgent and important for it to get caught in the usual petty squabbling over authority between bureaucrats. The person in charge has to have a proven track record in getting stuff done, not one who is likely to revel in layers of bureaucracy, and has to be someone with enough international experience to be able to deal with the global agencies and governments. This cannot be yet another thing that is dumped on an already overworked cabinet member. The government appears to be reluctant to expand the cabinet, although that is clearly required.
Getting this done properly will require direct calls from Professor Yunus to foreign leaders and thus will require close coordination with this appointee. Most importantly, this cannot be done without international law firms who specialize in asset recovery. They need to be appointed immediately and a war room needs to be set up to run this. The looters are on the run and extremely active in moving their assets and setting up their legal cases, we cannot wait for a task force meeting to eventually appoint a legal team many months down the line. The international law firms that operate in this space generally take a cut of what they can recover. Paying a cut of a large number is much better than paying zero and having no number.
If we do not act on this now, we will do a tremendous disservice to the students who gave their lives so that we could dream. Worse, we will corrupt even the most honest of Bangladeshis because there are no consequences and no shame to looting. Professor Yunus, there is a time and place for task forces, but this is a time for a forced task. Only you can make it happen.
Shakil Ahmed, PhD, is a private investor and retired quant hedge fund manager.
