Unrest in Bangladesh continued for the second day on Thursday disrupting its normal operation.
Protests by mid-level officials and employees of the central bank forced four deputy governors to resign on Wednesday. Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder remained absent from office since the fall of the Awami League government amid mass movement on Monday.
The protesting officials want the AL government-appointed top officials to step down accusing them of aiding corruption and money laundering by pro-AL businesses. Rouf’s whereabouts are unknown.
On Wednesday, a group of officials stormed into the central bank headquarters demanding the resignation of the governor, four deputy governors, advisers and the head of the financial intelligence unit.
The protesters said the top officials failed to ensure good governance in the banking sector. “We have no political motive,” said one of them.
Deputy Governor Kazi Sayedur Rahman resigned on Wednesday. After that, the officials assaulted him too.
Later, angry officers-employees went to the offices of Deputy Governor Nurun Nahar, advisor Abu Farah Md Nasser and Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) head Md. Masud Biswas and pressured to resign. Agreeing to this, he apologized to everyone and left the central bank.
When BFIU chief Masud agreed to resign, the officials threw him out of the central bank premises. At that time, the army members gave them security. The remaining two deputy governors Md. Khurshid Alam and Md. Habibur Rahman was not in the office. However, when the angry officials contacted them on phone, they said that they will resign and will not come to the office again.
After that, the angry officials decided that Deputy Governor Nurun Nahar would maintain administrative works for a temporary period.
Bangladesh Bank is the central bank of Bangladesh and is a member of the Asian Clearing Union. It is fully owned by the Government of Bangladesh.
The bank is active in developing green banking and financial inclusion policy and is an important member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion. Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), a department of Bangladesh Bank, is a member FIU of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
Bangladesh Bank is the first central bank in the world to introduce a dedicated hotline (16236) for people to complain about any banking-related problem.[6] Moreover, the organisation is the first central bank in the world to issue a “Green Banking Policy”. To acknowledge this contribution, then-governor Dr. Atiur Rahman was given the title ‘Green Governor’ at the 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which was held at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha.
