Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday refuted the allegation that one of the gold bars kept in its highly secured vault by the customs department was adulterated. Following a report published by a vernacular daily that quoted Customs Intelligence Investigation Department report, the central bank comes up with the observation that “the purity of the gold was 40 percent, but it was mistakenly written 80 percent” is heard hollow of integrity. The Customs Intelligence found that gold weighing almost 1000 kilograms kept in Bangladesh Bank’s vault has been adulterated while the 22-carat gold has turned into 18-carat gold as other metals were mixed with it after the central bank received gold discs and rings over a period of time.
The CIID of the National Board of Revenue dug out serious discrepancies in gold management, as the investigators examined 963 kg of gold out of huge quantity kept at the central bank’s vault, on the basis of random sampling. A gold discs and ring weighing 3.3 kg deposited with the BB vault two years ago were later found to be an alloy of metals. This is another major scam after an amount of USD81 million was stolen from the Bangladesh Bank’s foreign exchange account with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York in 2016. The country might have lost millions of taka but a former senior banker called it unthinkable on the part of the custodian of the national monetary system.
The team of investigators also found that the 960 kg gold they examined was graded in the range of 20-24 carat but mentioned as 18-carat gold in the Bangladesh Bank’s record. The central bank issued receipt after fixing the gold grade in presence of BB officials, the NBR and other authorities concerned.
The people have not forgotten the shocking heist at the Bangladesh Bank and the government despite repeated assurance to make the investigation report public the same is still in the dark. The people’s money and gold are not safe under this government and lies are made of protecting the enemies of the people. The people are wondering if we have a government to protect thieves and dacoits. We are being disgraced as a nation for our inability to protect our national interest. We are proving unworthy of governing ourselves.
There has to be a high powered impartial body, outside the bureaucratic circle, to investigate the robbing of Bangladesh Bank. We feel sure that some individuals are in the Bank who enjoy invincibility against their daring crimes against the state.
