BB freezes its officials’ lockers upon ACC request

The Bangladesh Bank has temporarily frozen the lockers of all its officials following a request from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). 

"We have suspended operations of the safe deposit boxes to prevent officials from withdrawing their assets for now," Shahriar Siddiqui, assistant spokesperson for the central bank, told The Business Standard, this evening.

The ACC made the request in a letter to Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur on 2 February.

The letter mentioned that on 26 January, an ACC investigation team, with court permission, searched the safe deposit of former deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury in the coin vault.

The letter, a copy of which was seen by TBS, states that the ACC team found €55,000, $169,300, 1,005.4 grams of gold, and an FDR of Tk70 lakh after opening three sealed safe deposit boxes of SK Sur in the vault. These assets are worth around Tk5 crore.

During the search, it was found, upon examining the register, that some other Bangladesh Bank officials also have sealed safe deposit boxes there. It is possible that these sealed boxes also contain undisclosed assets, the letter reads.

It states that the ACC is carrying out investigations against central bank officials of various levels on multiple allegations, including money laundering.

The letter further mentions that the matter of assets being kept in the Bangladesh Bank vault was brought up during a discussion between the ACC chairman and the finance adviser on 30 January. The finance adviser has agreed to temporarily freeze the assets kept in the said vault, says the letter.

On 27 January, a Dhaka court showed SK Sur arrested in a money laundering case filed by the ACC against Hallmark Group. 

The case was filed by the ACC on 26 December 2018 against Hallmark Group employees Tusher Ahmed, Mohammad Aslam Uddin, and Sumon Bhuiyan for making suspicious transactions of Tk13.50 crore, allegedly amassed illegally, and transferring the money to conceal its source.

Sur was detained by the ACC with the help of the Detective Branch (DB) of police from Dhaka's Segunbagicha area on 14 January.

On 19 January, the ACC recovered documents of Tk16.25 lakh and fixed deposits worth Tk4.5 crore from SK Sur's Dhanmondi house.

On 23 January, in response to a letter from the ACC, the central bank informed the agency that SK Sur had kept valuables in three lockers at the bank. 

As per rules, personal valuables of retired or working employees are kept in Bangladesh Bank's lockers, in packets or boxes in their names, sealed for 20 years from the date of the deposit.

SK Sur retired as the deputy governor of the central bank in January 2018.