‘We had to save our jobs’

A deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank yesterday said they often had to turn a blind eye towards irregularities as they have limited capacity to fight against politically influential people who bring about such malpractices.

"We have to manage various things in order to save our jobs as we too need job security," said the official, Md Khurshid Alam.

"We have to work with many limitations to save our jobs, which are contractual. This leaves the scope to terminate us at any time with three months' salary as severance pay," he added.

He also said the authorities can hire or sack people as they wish, making it very difficult to fight against influential people engaged in malpractices, especially those who are politically connected.

Alam made these comments in response to journalists' queries about the cause of widespread corruption, money laundering and other irregularities in the country's banking sector.

He was speaking at a view-exchange meeting between journalists, led by Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) President Refayet Ullah Mirdha, and Bangladesh Bank officials at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka.

Four deputy governors of the Bangladesh Bank -- Kazi Sayedur Rahman, Nurun Nahar, Md Khurshid Alam and Md Habibur Rahman -- its Executive Director and Spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque and ERF General Secretary Abul Kashem were also present.

The ERF president said as a guardian of Bangladesh's banking sector, the central bank should look into the situation of default loans, which now stand at more than Tk 182,000 crore.

Also, money launderers and other corrupt people in the banking sector should be identified and punished accordingly, he added.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder was absent from his office yesterday.

On the reason behind the absence, Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Kazi Sayedur Rahman said Talukder has fallen sick and was still inside the country.

However, a confidential source said the central bank governor was likely to resign from his post and to try to leave the country as soon as possible.

Rahman, whose tenure as deputy governor will end soon, told journalists that the central bank was working to restructure the banking sector and was ready to work with the new government.

In a step for improving transparency in its activities, Bangladesh Bank yesterday withdrew the restriction on journalists' entry to the central bank.

Rahman said all types of information would now be freely shared with journalists, as was the case before the restriction was imposed in April.

Bangladesh Bank had taken the decision at a time when the country's economy was facing several challenges, including growing irregularities in the financial sector, high inflation and a forex crisis.

During an emergency meeting without their governor, high-ups of the central bank instructed all its staff to keep calm amidst the changing situation to avoid conflict.

A source at Bangladesh Bank said Rahman has instructed them not to disclose any information on social media or other platforms amid the ongoing situation.