The new governor of Bangladesh’s central bank, Ahsan Mansur, calculates that about $17 billion was siphoned from the country’s financial system in the 15 years before the government of Sheikh Hasina collapsed in August. Other economists guess that the true value looted during Ms. Hasina’s rule, before she fled the country, could exceed $30 billion. And they did incalculable damage to Bangladesh’s economy. “The highest level of political authority realized that the banks are the best place to rob,” said Mr. Mansur, an appointee of an interim government in Bangladesh. For an inside job, that meant taking control of the central bank and the ownership of a clutch of private banks and their boards of directors.

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Persons: Ahsan Mansur, Sheikh Hasina, Hasina’s, Mansur, ” Locations: Bangladesh’s, Bangladesh