‘Bangladesh Bank ban on journalists to hide loot’

‘Lakhs of crores of rupees have been looted from the banks through various irregularities and big loan scams. Certain individuals-groups, vested interests and bank managers are conspiring to loot the money of common people’s deposits. Due to this, the financial sector of the country is in crisis. Many banks have become weak. The central bank is supporting them with people’s money without judging these irregularities. Due to the pressure of influential people, various strict rules have been imposed including the ban on entry of journalists to Bangladesh Bank so that these information do not come to the media.

The members of Economic Reporters Forum (ERF), an organization of economic journalists, made this comment while standing in front of the Central Bank Governor’s building on Thursday (April 25) morning.

Bank Beat journalists said that until now a journalist could enter the central bank by signing his name, organization name and mobile number in the registrar account of the reception desk of Bangladesh Bank through the issue of pass. For the last 53 years, journalists have been entering the Central Bank in this manner.

But it has been controlled for the past one month. The central bank initially delayed citing various agencies’ observations. Now that the matter has come to light, various restrictions have been imposed on the entry of journalists. Protesting against this, the reporters of the Economy Beat held a sit-in program in front of the Governor’s building of the Central Bank.

They stayed from 10 am to noon. Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) President Mohammad Refayet Ullah Mirdha and General Secretary Abul Kashem met with Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rauf Talukder at around 11 am to resolve the matter. However, the governor did not give any solution in this regard.

At the end of the meeting, Bangladesh Bank’s Executive Director and Spokesperson Mejbaul Haque told reporters, ‘The Central Bank has decided that from now on, journalists can only go to the spokesperson with specific permission (access pass) of the bank. However, if an official gives a pass to journalists, they can only go to that official. However, they will not be able to freely enter any department of the central bank as before.’

That is, the Central Bank has issued a kind of ban on the entry of journalists without telling directly.

Journalists working in this bit commented that the central bank has taken such a decision under the pressure of individuals-groups, interest-seeking circles and bank managers involved in irregularities and corruption. They quickly withdrew such black decision and demanded to cooperate in reporting the financial sector irregularities, mismanagement and loan scams by allowing journalists to enter as before.

They said, ‘Lakhs of crores of rupees have been looted through major irregularities in the banking sector like Hallmark, BASIC’s Bachchu loan fraud, Bismillah Group, Anontex and Crescent scams. The central bank has taken measures after these information were published in the media. People also got to know the information about these loots. Therefore, it is important to give access to journalists for the sake of the country’s people and economy to reveal information about irregularities and corruption.

ERF demands unhindered access to the central bank

ERF demanded to ensure unhindered access of reporters to Bangladesh Bank. On behalf of the organization, the governor has been strongly requested to confirm the right of reporters to go to all the officials of Bangladesh Bank unhindered as before for the purpose of collecting information from Thursday.

The governor has refused to immediately withdraw the Central Bank’s ban on free movement of reporters to Bangladesh Bank as per the ERF’s sole demand. “He said, journalists who want to meet the official, should enter with a pass from that official.”

According to ERF, reporters have been freely collecting information from Bangladesh Bank for the past 53 years. They were never barred from entering it. The sudden barring of access to reporters raises the risk of misreporting on the banking sector, which is not desirable for any party.

A committee headed by the President of ERF has been constituted to ensure unhindered access of reporters to the Central Bank under the overall circumstances. The ERF will take further action as per the recommendations of this committee.

SI/KA