Bill with penalty for digital cheque fraud placed in JS

The "Payment and Settlement Systems Bill" was placed in the Parliament on Monday with a provision for punishing top bank officials for committing bank fraud through digital cheques.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal submitted the bill and it was sent to the respective parliamentary standing committee for scrutiny. The committee will submit it report within 30 days.

As per the bill, the maximum punishment could be five years of imprisonment or Tk50 lakh fine, or both.

A provision has been included in the draft law to remove the owner, director, chief executive, manager, secretary or any other official of the company in the case of offences committed by the bank or the company.

The proposed law has mentioned punishment for various crimes, but it would not be applicable for mobile banking services.

The bill includes provision for electronic money transfers, but cryptocurrency, or virtual currency has not been included in it. Cryptocurrency is not approved as a medium of exchange by the central bank.

The bill defines how transactions will be conducted, how payments will be made, how they will be managed and how services will be offered.

The draft also includes rules regarding board management, the minimum investment needed to be a member of the board, ownership and management, management of inspections, and rules of service.

The bill also include provision over the transfer of funds through electronic means and the issuance of digital funds by the central bank.