Staff Reproter :
The High Court on Thursday wanted to know the authenticity of the Swiss ambassador’s statement that the Bangladeshi government did not ask for any specific information about the money deposited by Bangladeshi individuals and organizations in Swiss banks.
The court asked the concerned lawyers of the state and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to see the newspaper reports published quoting the Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard who said Bangladesh government did not want specific information on citizens’ money in Swiss banks.
They have also been asked to inform the court about the steps of their concerned organizations over the statement of the ambassador. The court fixed next Sunday (August 14) for passing order over the issue.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order on a Suo Moto (voluntary) move after it had been noticed through newspaper reports published quoting the Ambassador.
The ambassador said this at the DCAB Talk at Jatiya Press Club hosted by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) on August 10. The ambassador also answered various questions on Bangladesh-Switzerland trade relations, investment, and cooperation in resolving the Rohingya problem.
According to the annual report published in June this year by Switzerland’s central bank, Swiss National Bank (SNB), Bangladeshis last year deposited money equivalent to Tk 30 billion in various banks of that country, different newspaper quoted her as saying.
Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the state, while lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan represented the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Later Amin Uddin Manik said the High Court wanted to know the authenticity of the Swiss ambassador’s statement that the Bangladeshi government did not ask for any specific information about the money deposited by Bangladeshi individuals and organizations in Swiss banks.
In the program the ambassador said “We have informed the government about what needs to be done to get the information, but we have not been asked for any specific information.”
“We are committed to maintaining international standards. It is possible to exchange such information on the basis of the consent of the two parties and it has to be established. We are working with Bangladesh on this,” she added.
Funds parked by Bangladeshi nationals and entities in all the Swiss banks swelled by 54 per cent to around CHF (Swiss Franc) 871 million (Tk 83.18 billion) in the last calendar year, according to available data. The amount was around CHF 563 million in 2020.
Thus the Bangladesh-linked money in the Swiss banks recorded a sharp rise after consecutive two years’ decline.
The annual financial statements of 239 banks in Switzerland for the 2021 financial year, released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in Zurich in last June, unveiled the latest figures.
Although the figure is popularly perceived as money stashed from Bangladesh to Switzerland, the official statistics of SNB didn’t mention anything in this connection.
At the average rate of Tk 95.50 per CHF, the figure stands at Tk 83.18 billion by 2021 account, which was Tk 56.38 billion in the previous year.
