Bangladesh Bank governor confused hubris with heroism

The governor of Bangladesh Bank has resigned, which is an appreciable act intermediate between compulsion and courage, and he deserved full credit if not for the dissonance of what he said perhaps on the spur of the moment. He said he was leaving as a "hero" when his leaving was certain but heroism wasn't. We're not sure if he was leaving because he took responsibility for what happened or just because he didn't have a choice. If everyone shown the door is a hero, then we have more heroes cluttering corporate corridors than all the battlefields taken together.

The outgoing governor has tried to give a moral shine to his abrupt departure. But he hasn't told us what exactly happened. If the delay in informing the government was as per protocol, as he claimed, then why has he resigned? Why couldn't he stay on and help investigators nab the miscreants? The fact is straight and simple. He wasn't trying to be bold; he just didn't have another option.

The now-to-be former governor also argued that he wasn't a technical guy and was puzzled by the theft. If ignorance of law is no excuse, ignorance of operation is no excuse for the head of an organisation. That he resorted to such inept arguments shows he may have misunderstood his job. A hero stops digging when he is in a hole.

It's curious why a six-week-old disaster couldn't hit the headlines until last week. The hackers attempted to steal $1 billion but managed to steal $81 million because typos luckily thwarted the full heist. So it's both good news and bad news. We have lost money but not more than ten times that could be gone if hackers were not sloppy with typing.

But why was Bangladesh Bank sitting on this keg of gunpowder for so long? Is it because the governor was puzzled as he confessed? What was he thinking all that time the money was missing? Was he hoping to recover the money and then pretend nothing had happened? Or, was he misled into stupor by his colleagues in their efforts to cover up?

It's fair to infer that if not for the story published in a newspaper in faraway Philippines, this country probably wouldn't have had any clue about the heist till today. If we believe that nobody from Bangladesh Bank was involved in this crime, why was it hesitant to come out? Why did it wait for several weeks to open up and that too after the cat was already out of the bag?

Money has gone missing in this country several times in the past. And it has always been a one-way traffic because what was lost was never recovered. We are yet to know how much of the BDT40 billion siphoned out of Sonali Bank has been brought back, although a few officials of the bank and a couple are serving time as poster boys of that criminal enterprise.

The Destiny Group scam is almost forgotten, although the person heading this front organisation has been granted bail and is found doing occasional rounds in social circuits as if nothing had ever happened. Meanwhile, BDT32 billion stolen from two million investors still remains unaccounted for. The Basic Bank scandal involving BDT45 billion is still an enigma wrapped in mystery. Even after the finance minister accused him in the parliament, the bank's former president is still roaming free. The memory of the 2011 stock market manipulation, when masterminds had defrauded investors of at least BDT50 billion, has all but faded into darkness.

This country, over the years, has turned into a theme park for corruption. There is corruption everywhere and Bangladesh Bank may not have escaped the havoc of this viral attack. The governor would have been our hero had he lost his job for admitting it or unmasking those who may be working to destroy this important institution from inside.

Instead he did the most mundane thing, although one must admit resignations are rare in this country. Rather, this one time the finance minister has showed more class by putting his foot down. He has been heroic in his decision to remove the governor and promptly appoint his successor.

And the minister surely knows more than us. He has also sacked two deputy governors and talked about introducing reforms in the central bank. He may have other things in mind, but one thing that must be restored is the firewall between the regulator and the regulated.

The central bank shouldn't collect blankets from the banks. Neither should it ask banks to sponsor its activities, nor allow any bank to introduce scholarships "in recognition of the governor's contribution to the economy." The foundation of fairness flounders when favours breed familiarity, which is the fiercest form of flattery.

The writer is the Editor of weekly First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star. Email: badrul151@yahoo.com.