Quoting a recent audit report of the World Bank, he said some 300 factories could have been set up with Tk 16,000 crore creating jobs for three lakh workers. Besides, the Padma Bridge could have been constructed with this money.

B Chowdhury, who had to resign from the presidency following a BNP parliamentary party resolution in 2002, asked the government to find out the thieves.

He made the remarks at a May Day discussion at the `Kanchi Kancha' auditorium in the city on Saturday.

Bikalpa Dhara member-secretary Major (retd) Abdul Mannan, Mahi B Chowdhury, Major General (retd) MA Halim, Jalal Ahmed of Garments Sramik Federation, Anwar Hossain of Saw Mills Sramik Association, MR Sikdar of Thai Aluminum Federation and Dr Ershad Sikdar Bachchu of Palli Chikitsak Parishad also addressed the meeting. Bikalpa Dhara national committee member Firoz M Hasan presided.

B Chowdhury said that if he was given the responsibility of running the country, he would induct at least one representative from the workers and one from the successful industrial entrepreneurs into the cabinet to resolve problems in the industrial sector through negotiation between the owners and the workers.

He said a permanent official committee should be formed to fix wages and allowances for the workers. The committee will also recommend measures for education, health and welfare of the children of the workers.

Major (retd) Mannan demanded judicial inquiry into the alleged embezzlement of Tk 16,000 crore from the four nationalised commercial banks -- Rupali, Agrani, Sonali and Janata.

He wanted to know which "Bhaban" had taken away Tk 11,000 crore out of the missing Tk 16,000 crore. "How the finance minister could retain his job after this? The finance minister should have been sacked on that day," he told the meeting.

He said: "Today Bangladesh is the most corrupt country in the world. Bureaucrats, politicians and big fishes are involved in corruption. Their number is only 2,000. Corruption can be stopped if these 2,000 big shots can be caught."