Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Tuesday summoned the head of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), Md Masud Biswas, for not following the due process in submitting a statement to the court, which earlier sought information on money deposited by Bangladeshi individuals and organizations to Swiss banks. The BIFU chief has been asked to appear before the High Court at 11.00 am on Wednesday to explain his position over the issue.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order after hearing a Suo Muto (voluntary) rule on this issue.
Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard on August 10 this year said in a program that the Bangladeshi government did not ask for any specific information about the money deposited by Bangladeshi individuals and organizations in Swiss banks.
In view of the statement, documents were submitted in the High Court on behalf of the Bangladesh Bank and the BFIU. However, no one’s name, seal and designation was mentioned in the documents submitted by the BFIU although the High Court earlier asked to submit the documents properly. In this circumstance, the High Court summoned the BFIU chief.
State counsel and Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik submitted the documents in the court on behalf of the central bank and the BFIU.
At one stage of the hearing the court said, “He gives some information on a white paper. No name, address and designation were mentioned. Isn’t it confusing? Is the matter such that making sure of something without risking anything?
May be he wants his name (the officer who gave the paper to be submitted in the court) not to come to fore. Why is he so afraid of? He should have a signature under what he wrote. He did not write his name, did not sign, which is very indifference. Will anyone accept it? This information cannot be relied on. It is frustrating to submit such a paper.”
Then the court passed order summoning the BFIU chief.
Swiss ambassador made the statement over seeking specific information about the money deposited by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks on August 10. On the following day, the High Court bench asked the state and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to inform it about the authenticity of the statement of the Swiss ambassador.
On August 14, the State and the ACC informed the High Court that the statement of Nathalie Chuard regarding the request for specific information on the money deposited in Swiss banks is not correct.
The state lawyer on that day read a document in the court supplied by the BFIU that said the organization has sought information from the Switzerland Financial Intelligent Unit (SFIU) about 67 persons and entities since 2013 when the organization got membership of Egmont Group.
However, the SFIU supplied only one’s information to the BFIU which was transferred to the ACC for further procedure. The BFIU on June 2022 sought information from Switzerland through Egmont Secure Web (ESW) for the last time. But no information has been found yet, read the BFIU document.
After completing the hearing the court on that day ordered the ACC and the state to submit the information presented by them in the form of an affidavit by August 21. The court also fixed the date for passing necessary order on the issue.
In continuation of that order, the state and the ACC submitted written statements with relevant documents in the form of an affidavit on Monday and the matter came up in the court for hearing on Tuesday.
ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said, “BFIU chief has submitted the statement to the HC through the attorney general’s office. The statement was not prepared in accordance with the relevant procedures as he did not give his signature and did not include his designation and address in the forwarding of the statement.”
The BFIU made the statement in “callous manner” for which the HC summoned the BFIU chief before it for his explanation, lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan added.
