Bangladesh, Sept. 4 -- Bangladesh saw an estimated $16 billion stolen and siphoned abroad each year during the Awami League's 15 years in power, fuelling the "global economy of corruption", according to Francois Valerian, chair of the Berlin-based anti-graft watchdog Transparancy International.

Valerian said the scale of illicit financial flows under the ousted regime showed how "positions of power were turned into opportunities for extraction" rather than public service.

"According to estimates, under the authoritarian regime, $16 billion a year were stolen over 15 years," Valerian told a press conference at the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) office in Dhaka on Thursday.

"Why is that extremely important? Because when publ...