Speaking at a Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) seminar on money laundering, the former Bangladesh Bank governor said large amounts of foreign exchange was being taken out instead of being invested at home.
He said a staggering $9.66 billion had been siphoned out of the country in 2013 alone, a sum 35 times higher than the 2012 figures.
He reminded that both these years happened to be just ahead of the election years in Bangladesh.
He said an improved political environment and better investment climate in the country could check this illegal outflow of vital capital from the country.
He also called for a policy framework to attract investment and check money laundering.
He also said that private investment in the country could pick up only if the government allayed investors' fears by standing guarantee against risks.
The top banker also pitched for pegging the currency value to the market. He reasoned that a higher currency value only encouraged cash outflow by making inflow less profitable.
Former government advisor AB Mirza Azizul Islam stressed the formulation of a policy to check currency smuggling.