Bangladesh Bank, the regulatory body of the banking sector, has committed a serious fraud with foreign currency reserve dollars. Recently Bangladesh Bank paid Tk 12,540 crore showing fake purchase of $1,100 million from Islami Bank while under the control of S Alam Group. Abdur Rauf Talukder, who left the post of Bangladesh Bank governor and some officials, chose this novel method to give illegal benefits to Islami Bank, which is in liquidity crisis.
Last July 3, Bangladesh Bank paid Tk 6,490 crore showing the purchase of $550 million from Islami Bank. In this way, on the one hand money has been given fraudulently, on the other hand, reserves have been shown to be higher with fake accounts. After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, this information about the fraud came to the fore.
The people concerned said that before the fall of the government, the central bank gave an unprecedented opportunity to the banks under the control of S. Alam to carry out transactions with Bangladesh Bank with a deficit of Tk. 25 to 30 thousand crores. The lending opportunities of these banks are kept unrestricted. But the banks did not have the funds to lend. In this situation, from January of this year, fake transactions of dollars started giving money in a novel way.
According to the information of Bangladesh Bank, the fake purchase of 550 million dollars from Islami Bank was shown last July 3. On that day, Bangladesh Bank paid Tk 6,490 crore to Islami Bank at the rate of Tk 118 per dollar. After several rounds of insistence, Islami Bank gave 100 million dollars in return. However, the remaining 450 million dollars have not been paid for a long time. On the other hand, Bangladesh did not return the money it took from the bank. After the fall of the government, the Central Bank hastily collected that money on Sunday, August 11. Due to which Islami Bank’s current account again has a large deficit. The fraudulently purchased dollars are shown in the gross reserves of the central bank but not in the net reserves. As a result, at the end of last July, the gross reserve was 25.92 billion dollars and the net reserve was 20.48 billion dollars. On August 28, the gross reserve fell to 25.64 billion. But the net reserve increased to 20.60 billion dollars.
An internal review report of Bangladesh Bank on August 11 said that out of the $550 million purchased from Islami Bank Bangladesh on July 3, $100 million was deposited as ‘Nostro’ in Bangladesh Bank. The accounts and budgeting department’s back office sent multiple swift messages and emails to collect the remaining $450 million. However, Islami Bank did not give any response in this regard. In this situation, the remaining 450 million dollars equivalent to 5 thousand 310 crore taka were deducted from the current account of Islami Bank kept at Motijheel office of Bangladesh Bank. And 450 million dollars were adjusted from the reserve. This means that amount of reserve decreases.
It is known that first on January 18 of this year, 2000 million taka was given to the bank showing a fake purchase of 200 million dollars from Islami Bank. By adjusting that money, in March 350 million dollars were purchased and 3 thousand 850 crores were given again. According to the rules, the dollar is supposed to be added to the central bank account the day after it is bought. Friday, January 19 and Saturday, January 20, the day after the first round of fake dollar purchases, were weekends. Then 21st January Sunday was the closing day in New York. The concerned officials became worried as the dollar was not added the next day even on Monday. They did not even know that it was a fake arrangement to buy dollars. That is why the concerned department issues a demand letter to Islami Bank asking for the return of dollars or money. However, the bank did not respond.
After that Deputy Governor Noorun Nahar got the responsibility of that department. And Abu Farah said. Abdur Rauf Talukder appointed Nacher as a policy advisor. Dr. is still in charge of the executive director. Md. Kabir Ahmed. After the fall of the government in the face of unprecedented protests by central bank officials, Abu Farah Md. on August 12. Some senior officials including Nacher were forced to resign.
Those concerned said that in July 2022, Abdur Rauf Talukder joined as the governor of the central bank. After that he created his own circle in the central bank. In this case, the then deputy governor Abu Farah became his most loyal and loyal. of the dance Later, Deputy Governor Noorun Nahar also agreed to give money to Islami Bank in the same manner.
Executive Director Dr. Kabir Ahmed did not object to this. However, Zaker Hossain, the executive director in charge of the Motijheel office at that time, refused to pay the money in this way. His body was found in a bloody condition under the house after Friday prayers on August 23. Whether Basar died after falling from the building, or some other incident, is unclear. Various questions have been raised about his sudden death.
Those concerned say that selling dollars or other foreign currency with commercial banks is an accepted practice of the central bank. In general, if a bank wants to sell central bank dollars, the equivalent amount is paid. Day after day, the money is transferred to the bank account, but the dollar is added to the Central Bank’s ‘Nostro’ account the next day. If for some reason the dollar does not arrive the next day, the entire amount with interest must be returned to the central bank. Paying huge amounts of money against arranged transactions with Islamic banks without following these rules is a fraud. It needs to be seen whether the governor, policy advisor, deputy governor, executive director personally benefited with huge amount of money. Apart from this, those involved in this fraud should be punished in the future.
