Bangladesh Bank has issued transfer orders for officials of nine banks allegedly involved in illegal foreign currency trading at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka, as they were working at the airport's forex trading booths.
The Central Bank also instructed banks recently to enhance their monitoring to prevent such activities.
The move is a follow-up on allegations of an organized syndicate of banks and money exchangers engaging in illegal trading of foreign currency at the airport.
In a meeting on Thursday (February 8), chaired by deputy governor Kazi Sayedur Rahman, the central bank directed managing directors of Janata Bank, Sonali Bank, Agrani Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, City Bank, Jamuna Bank, Pubali Bank, Standard Bank and Probashi Kallyan Bank to take immediate actions in this regard.
The central bank's Spokesperson and Executive Director Md Mezbaul Haque told Dhaka Tribune that the central bank aimed to strengthen surveillance and ensure transparency in forex transactions.
The central bank has already instructed the managing directors of the nine banks to enhance their monitoring to prevent such allegations of illegal foreign currency trading at the airport, he also said.
The directive to banks also mandates that these booths operate under continuous CCTV surveillance, with forex transactions to be suspended if the cameras are found to be non-operational.
The transfer of officials from the airport, however, is widely recognized as a complex procedure due to stringent security measures, with estimates suggesting that the process could take at least two months.
The central bank's instructions further specify that new in-charges should be appointed for no more than one year at a time to ensure a robust checks-and-balances system.
ACC identifies illicit currency trading
The development came after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) accused an organized conspiracy of banks and money exchangers of illegally handling foreign currency at the airport, involving large sums of money.
In a press briefing last February 6, ACC Secretary Mahbub Hossain said they had found evidence that booths of several banks, including Janata, Sonali, Agrani, Mutual Trust, Pubali, Probashi Kallyan and Jamuna Bank inside the airport area were involved in illegal buying and selling of foreign currency worth more than Tk100 crore each day.
Mahbub mentioned that following intelligence reports and a specific written complaint, an enforcement operation led by deputy director Syed Nazrul Islam was conducted on February 5, uncovering an organized syndicate of banks and money exchangers engaged in the illegal trading of foreign currency.
According to the ACC, remittances in cash and foreign currency brought by expatriate workers and air passengers at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport are meant to be deposited in the national reserve through official banking channels.
As per rules, foreign currency encashment vouchers are payable to the customers. But, some bank officials and money exchangers were found to have exchanged foreign currencies directly without issuing any vouchers or with fake vouchers, which is considered money laundering.
