The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit or BFIU under the control of Bangladesh Bank has ordered to report any amount of money withdrawn from the bank by politically influential people. Such instructions have been given to prevent the occurrence of criminal acts in the changing situation of the country. It is said that the Chief Money Laundering Prevention Officer of all the banks has been summoned and given such instructions.
Bankers said that they are currently monitoring cash withdrawals. Recently, due to the deterioration of the law and order situation, they have introduced various controls in the field of transactions. One of the reasons for this is that the security companies are not agreeing to deposit money in the ATM booth. They don’t want to take money from one branch to another. In this situation customers are not getting money in all ATM booths. And in the booths where there is money, the transaction limit has been reduced. Many people are depositing money in branches considering the security of their homes. Many people are asking to pay large sums of money by telephone. They hope that the situation will return to normal soon.
Order to prevent withdrawal of money by the influential
It is known that many influential political leaders of the previous government or people who held various important positions are sending checks to the bank for encashment through others without being physically present. Some are trying to withdraw money and make dollars. The bank considers the transaction suspicious. In many cases, Bangladesh Bank is being asked for guidance in these cases by calling from the bank. In case of doubt, the check is asked to be returned. BFIU held a meeting with the banks yesterday to give an overall direction on these issues.
An official of Bangladesh Bank who was present at the meeting told Samakal that there are already some instructions regarding large amount transactions of politically influential (politically exposed persons). However, the trend of sending transaction information was less for big political leaders, police officers, bureaucrats, bank managers etc. In yesterday’s meeting, instructions were given, for the time being, any transaction of the politically influential should be reported to the BFIU.
Anonymous loan information requested
It was said in the meeting that many organizations have taken anonymous loans from different banks. At this time Benami no loan amount can be waived. In this case, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the issue of trying to extract benami loans of Tk 848 crore from two institutions related to the interests of S Alam Group came into discussion. Care has been taken to ensure that no loan amount is waived without verification. Each bank has been asked to inform the actual beneficiary of the benami loan at the earliest.
Bangladesh Bank has given instructions that cash can be used in various criminal activities at this time. In this case, there will be no way to understand if you withdraw money from multiple branches. For this reason, banks have to centrally monitor suspicious trends with money withdrawals.
More than 1 lakh rupees could not be withdrawn on Thursday
In view of the law and order situation in the country, Bangladesh Bank issued instructions yesterday on Thursday not to allow anyone to withdraw more than Tk 1 lakh at a time. This information was conveyed to the MD of all the banks by SMS late on Wednesday night. After that, all the branches were informed by the banks. These instructions are mainly for safety and to ensure that no one withdraws money for criminal activities.
A related official of Bangladesh Bank said that a special situation is going on in the country now. At this time, there is a security issue if someone withdraws more money at once. Again, due to security reasons, banks are having trouble taking money from one branch to another. Can’t keep money in ATM booth either. All in all such a decision is made. As the bank is not able to exchange money properly, due to which many ATM booths are not getting money. The withdrawal limit has been greatly reduced in the booths where money is collected. However, he hopes that there will be no problem from next Sunday.