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Some US$16 billion was siphoned off Bangladesh annually during Sheikh Hasina's "corrupt autocracy", leaving the country in a state of plunder and economy in a shambles when she fled amid a mass uprising.
The observations are laid down in the White Paper on the state of the economy following her rule, which is billed a "historic document" by the head of interim government, Prof Muhammad Yunus.
The committee entrusted to the task of documenting the state of economy submitted its report to the Chief Adviser, Prof Yunus, at his Tejgaon office on Sunday, saying they were "horrified by the level of corruption, plunder, and statistical manipulation" conducted by the Hasina regime, said a spokesperson for the CA Office.
Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, a top economist and distinguished fellow of the Dhaka-based think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue, headed the expert panel. He led his team at the handover ceremony.
Chief Adviser Prof Yunus thanked the committee for doing a landmark job and said the paper should be published once it is finalised and be taught in textbooks in national college and university curricula.
"This is a historic document. It will show us the economy we inherited after the July-August mass uprising. The nation will benefit from this document," said the Nobel-winning microcredit pioneer in his short speech before receiving the White Paper.
"Our blood curdles to know how they plundered the economy. The sad part is they looted the economy openly. And most of us could not summon courage to confront it," Prof Yunus told his audience.
He wonders that even the multilateral agencies that monitor Bangladesh's economy were also largely silent when this plunder took place.
Head of the committee Debapriya Bhattacharya said they worked independently without any interference from the government in the stocktaking of the economic situation.
"The problem is deeper than what we have thought," he said, adding that the 30-chapter and 400-page volume of White Paper will show how crony capitalism gave birth to the Oligarchs, who controlled the policy framing.
Committee member Prof Mustafizur Rahman said they examined seven large projects out of 29 with over Tk 10,000 crore (100 billion) expenditure outlay for each. The total expenses on 29 large projects were $87 billion, or Tk 780,000 crore (7.8 trillion).
The estimated initial cost of the seven projects examined was Tk 114,000 crore. The project costs were later revised to Tk 195,000 crore by adding many components, showing an inflated land price, and manipulating the purchase.
"The project costs were raised almost 70 percent without analysing the cost benefit," he said.
The CPD economist suggests the start of special prosecution to try those who were involved in money laundering.
Committee member Prof AK Enamul Haque said in the last 15 years over Tk 700,000 crore (7.0 trillion) was spent on the Annual Development Programme (ADP), and 40 percent of the money was "plundered by bureaucrats".
Another member, Prof Mohammad Abu Eusuf, revealed that the amount of tax exemptions during the past regime was 6.0 per cent of the total GDP of the country.
"If it could be reduced to half, the education budget could be doubled and the health budget could be tripled."
Prof M Tamim, who is also on the committee, said $30 billion was invested in power generation, and if the kickbacks were considered 10 percent, the amount would be at least $3 billion.
Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Principal Secretary Sirajuddin Sathi and Senior Secretary Lamiya Morshed were also present.
The White Paper report, titled Dissection of a Development Narrative, is expected to be made available for the public soon.
Quoting the Bangladesh Bank governor, Shafiqul Alam, press secretary to the CA, said tthe real default loan in the banking sector may reach over 30 per cent.
Responding to a question at a press briefing on the White Paper on finance sector, he said the committee had to work on the basis of official data and they got only three months.
"The white paper report will be revised through incorporating the real data, he stated" he said when asked why the white paper said that the default loan is 10.2 per cent.
Mr Shafiq said the government is committed to bring back the siphoned money and from December 10, a series of meetings will be held with FBI and some other international organisations which are specialised in recovering stolen money.
Replying to a question he said that the persons who laundered the money will be brought to book.
Responding to another question he said that the recent mince to provide TK22500 crore to banking sector will not at all impact the inflation situation.
Before the fall the ousted government printed TK 60000 crore in a bid to help SAlam Group to launder money.
But the TK 22500 crore provided to the banking sector last week aimed at to help weak banks, he said.