Crime is a group performance

A famous mango seller named Mintu sold the cheapest and juiciest mangoes. One night, the inspector discovered mangoes were being stolen from the government orchard. Everyone shouted, “Mintu is the mastermind!” When caught, Mintu said, “I planned it, but I didn’t work alone.” He pointed to the guard who opened the gate, the driver who carried the mangoes, the shopkeeper who sold them, and even the tea man who supported them. A boy asked, “If one steals and many help, why blame only one?” The inspector replied, “Crime is a group performance.” Every big crime has many small helpers; silence and support are also crimes.

We love chasing headlines like kids chasing kites, especially when the kite is already flying out of the country. Every big financial scandal in Bangladesh comes with a superstar villain, a flashy tycoon, a visionary businessman, or a successful defaulter who is now conveniently beyond our reach. The government, media, and social media then hold a national seminar in anger. But behind every such genius crook, there were bankers who approved, regulators who slept, auditors who blinked, and agencies who saw everything except the crime. 

And the best part? Almost all these helpful accomplices are still here, drawing salaries, signing documents, and attending seminars on good governance. Have we fired any bankers for enabling scams? Have we publicly punished bureaucrats who looked away? Hardly. By keeping them in the system, we are basically issuing an unofficial certificate, “Corruption Friendly Professional, Renewable License.” So next time a new fraud appears with a new hero, do not be surprised. The cast will be the same, only the lead actor will change.

The interim government had a rare chance to break the corrupt system by focusing on what it could actually control. Everyone knows big fish are hard to catch, but local accomplices are not. If action had been taken against bankers, officials, and facilitators from both public and private sectors, at least new money swindlers could have been stopped. Instead, the government chased unreachable giants and let local enablers roam free, even rewarding some of them. The message was clear: survive corruption once, and you can survive anything. 

To break the support system behind money flight and rising NPLs in Bangladesh, accountability must reach the enablers. Bankers and officials who approve risky loans should face real consequences, not just transfers. Boards and regulators must be free from political influence, with fit-and-proper tests and disclosures of conflicts. Real-time data sharing among the Bangladesh Bank, FIU, ACC, NBR, and intelligence units can quickly freeze suspicious transactions. Financial penalties, professional bans, and confiscation of unexplained wealth will deter accomplices more than speeches.

We also need transparency and consequences for powerful figures. For example, an election candidate with over a thousand crore in default loan faced only a mild request to repay rather than legal action, sending the wrong message. 

Publish defaulter lists, protect whistleblowers, and punish enablers. Also, remove bureaucrats and professors from business entities and committees when they lack real business experience. Cut the helpers, and the big fish will struggle to swim.

UNODC estimates 2-5 percent of world GDP is laundered yearly. Asset recovery is also “few and far”. Some countries reduce flights by targeting enablers. In the 1MDB case, US authorities recovered and returned about $1.4 billion to Malaysia. Nigeria’s Abacha funds were repatriated with World Bank monitoring. Our leaders refused to learn from them!

We keep hunting lions with whistles while the monkeys who open the cages get promotions. Big thieves need small helpers, and helpers love quiet corners. Until we stop rewarding the gate-openers of corruption, new “masterminds” will keep graduating every year. Our problem is not a shortage of villains; it is also a surplus of protected accomplices.

The writer is the president of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh and founder of BuildCon Consultancies Ltd