Account Freezing
HC questions BB order on Destiny
The High Court (HC) yesterday asked the government to explain the legality of Bangladesh Bank's action in freezing the bank accounts of Destiny Group's 35 associated organisations.
In response to a writ petition, the HC issued a rule upon the government and the concerned officials of BB to explain within a week why the central bank's action should not be declared illegal.
Destiny Group currently owns 37 concerns, including a television channel and a Bangla newspaper, the petitioner's lawyer SM Rezaul Karim said.
On May 24, BB froze all bank accounts of Destiny's organisations for a month except two of its sister concerns-- Boishakhi Media Limited and Dainik Destiny. Later, on June 19, the BB extended its order for another 30 days.
Destiny Group Managing Director Rafiqul Amin yesterday filed a writ petition with the HC challenging the legality of the central bank's action against his organisations.
In the petition, he said BB's step to freeze the bank accounts was illegal, since it did not mention any reason behind its actions in its letters.
He prayed to the court to stay the central bank's decision and also to issue a rule upon the officials concerned to explain why the bank's action should not be declared illegal.
During the hearing, Rezaul Karim told the court that according to Section 23(1) (Ga) of the Anti Money Laundering Act, 2012, BB can stay the operations of any person or organisation for 30 days, if there is any logical reason to believe that the person or the organisation earns money through illegal means.
BB in its letters through which it announced its actions did not mention the offence committed by the organisations, he added.
After holding a hearing on the petition, a vacation bench of the HC comprised of Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AKM Shahidul Huq issued the rule.
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