Curbing graft: HC to hear BB, ACC, BSEC officials’ statements on 9 March

The High Court will hear statements of the governor of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chairman, and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) chairman on 9 March on how to work together to curb irregularities and corruption in banks and non-banking financial institutions.

"The High Court bench of Justice Mohammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar on 23 February said it would hear the statements of the three. Later, the court published a written copy of the order on 28 February," Barrister Khan Mohammad Shamim Aziz, a lawyer for the Bangladesh Bank, told The Business Standard on Monday.

He said the three had been ordered to present their statements to the court virtually. If that is not possible, the court order states that an executive director of the central bank, a director general of the ACC, and a representative of the BSEC will have to appear in court to speak on behalf of their respective institutions.

"All parties concerned have been informed of the matter. Now they will do whatever is best according to the court order," he continued.

"The High Court stated in its order that neither lawyers nor anyone else could be present in the court during the hearing of the statements. The court alone will hear those," he further added.

The High Court summoned 280 loan defaulters – who had defaulted on Tk5 lakh and above – of People's Leasing and Financial Services on 21 January. It asked them to appear before it on 23 and 25 February to explain why they had defaulted.

During the hearings, the court warned the defaulters of imprisonment if they did not pay back the loans.

Following the order, 51 defaulters appeared before the court on 23 February, and 40 on 25 February.

The High Court ordered the rest to appear before it on 9 March.