The government is committed to bringing those to justice who left the country in a terrible condition by looting public money, Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said yesterday.

"The top priority of the government is to ensure justice and accountability for those involved in anarchy in the last 15 years," he told a press briefing at Foreign Service Academy.

Apart from holding trials for those involved in the mass killings and enforced disappearances, the looters must be tried, he said.

"So, information and evidence will have to be collected to this end. The Anti-Corruption Commission is being restructured for this purpose. I hope it will start the process soon to bring these thieves to justice," Shafiqul said.

He said the white paper preparation committee, formed by the interim government to examine the overall situation of the country's economy, handed over its report to Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday.

Eminent economist Debapriya Bhattacharya, who worked as the head of the committee, said after three months of investigation, their report was handed over to the chief adviser at a function at the Chief Adviser's Office.

In addition to finding the picture of the looting money, the press secretary said the committee members also accomplished a post-mortem on the story of development that was portrayed earlier. The looting was going on in front of the eyes of the country's people, when many legitimised it.

"As a result, you have seen how many billions of dollars have been laundered," he said, adding that they were panicked after hearing the story of looting.

He said many politicians, bureaucrats, and some businessmen in collusion with each other plundered the taxpayers' money, the money of the poor people of Bangladesh.

"The picture of looting should be included in textbooks. Students of schools, colleges or universities should know this story," Shafiqul said, quoting the chief adviser as saying at the function.

Prof Yunus termed the report of the white paper preparation committee a historical document.

Stating that the government is committed to bringing back the laundered money, Shafiqul said, "We will bring back the laundered money. We have already started working with international organisations to this end."

He added that many issues will be updated and then the people of Bangladesh will get the overall picture of the corruption of Sheikh Hasina's regime.