Bangladesh Bank: 200 employees hold procession, force top brass to resign over graft allegations

Bangladesh Bank has been rocked by instability amid a procession by nearly 200 officials and employees who are demanding the resignation of the central bank governor, four deputy governors, advisers and the head of the financial intelligence unit (BFIU).

According to regional news outlet Prothom Alo, the members of the Central Bank of Bangladesh, at one point in the procession, went into the main building. They entered the governor’s floor and forced all the deputy governors to sign on blank papers.

The media outlet quoted witnesses as saying that the aggrieved officials and employees claimed the top brass of Bangladesh Bank were responsible for corruption in the banking sector.

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Witness accounts have suggested that the protesters first barged into the office of deputy governor Kazi Sayedur Rahman. They pressurised him to resign, which resulted in Rahman penning his signature and “resignation” on a blank sheet of paper. He left the bank right after this.

The disgruntled officers and employees then forced Deputy governors Md. Khurshid Alam, Nurun Nahar, and Md. Habibur Rahman were next. They, too, were forced to sign on the blank paper which could then become their resignation letters.

Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit’s Masud Biswas and the bank’s adviser Abu Farah Md. Nasser were asked to resign, too.

All the top officials of the central bank were given the positions on a contractual basis. Witnesses said that four deputy governors and the head of the financial intelligence unit have already “resigned” and left the central bank.

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The protesting officials and employees declared the top officials persona non grata in the central bank and declared executive director Zakir Hossain Chowdhury as the officer-in-charge.

They insisted that good governance wouldn’t return to the banking sector if these officials remained in charge.

It is unclear what the political affiliations of the aggrieved officials and employees, if any, were. They were not carrying banners of any party.