Group behind bank deposit embezzlement also siphoned stock market funds: Info minister

Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapon has said the same group that embezzled bank deposits also siphoned off the money of small investors in the stock market.

"If the state has the power to manipulate, then senior bank officials have nothing to do there and eventually they are forced to adapt to that system," he said while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar organised by the Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) today (7 June).

Photo: TBS

The minister added that the instability in the financial sector is not caused by any single individual, but is rooted in the overall system.

He further said no institution other than the media has been able to safeguard the economy to the extent it has been monitored. "It is because the media highlighted those issues that they are now able to discuss them."

Swapon said that the systemic or "systemic" flaws are responsible for the fragile state of the financial sector.

He added that banking governance is not an isolated issue; if the state and political process as a whole fail to ensure good governance, then media presence alone cannot bring discipline to the sector.

Swapon said, "State statistics were manipulated or falsified in the previous regime for use as political tools or political rhetoric."

"The situation had reached a point where the ruling group, for their own interests, changed statistics and portrayed day as night and night as day. Such changes in data or performance statistics are not possible without state patronage."

He emphasised the need to form a banking commission, noting that the government is establishing various reform commissions as part of state restructuring. Since the banking sector is the "lifeblood" of the economy, it must be reformed, he added.

Referring to the historical development of the country's economy, he said that late president Ziaur Rahman opened the door of the economy, which has since led to the expansion of the private sector.

Swapon urged not to rely solely on banks as a source of capital and called for strengthening the stock market.

The minister described the media as the "mirror" of society, but warned that if the mirror is flawed, the reflection will also appear distorted.

He stressed the importance of a "fact-checking mechanism" alongside media freedom, as objectivity is essential for credibility.