To say the least the nation has been thunderstruck at the reported figure of cash that some politicians and businessmen had earned through foul and illegal means and despatched to other countries. Frankly, these do not fall under the category of corruption or bribe or mere kickbacks. These are acts deliberately undertaken without a thought of the damage that these people were inflicting upon the country. We must find a different vocabulary to describe these abominable acts. What we have are blatant cases of organised plunder of national wealth by those that the nation had entrusted its wealth to protect.

We understand that so far the government has been able to repatriate around 300 crore taka, which, going by the accounts given out by some of the arrested politicians, is but a tiny portion of the siphoned off money. We would hope that the government would not only expose these anti-state elements but would take all measures to ensure that they receive the severest of punishments for the harm that they have done to the country. Apart from that, the government should take all measures possible to unearth the system and the nexus of various people that operate the system of making and then transferring money outside the country; it must be broken once and for all.

As for the effort against corruption it will be well to remember that while the ACC's effort has so far been very laudable its effectiveness can be proved by bringing the corrupt to trial without delay through cast-iron prosecution. The trial must be transparent and according to the law of the land.