The Bangladesh Bank has served show-cause notices on a number of officials, asking for their explanations as to how the media published reports based on the central bank’s findings on several banking scams.
Around 10 officials have faced the notices in the last couple of weeks, sources said.
This is an unprecedented move taken by the ongoing central bank high-ups as such action was never seen previously, said a number of Bangladesh Bank officials seeking anonymity.
The officials, who faced the show-cause notice, do not have any relationship with the reporters in most of the cases, they said.
A deputy governor of the central bank has played a pivotal role in issuing the show-cause notice, creating a panic among the central bankers.
The central bank stance has given an indication that it is now trying to stop the release of information on scams that are now occurring in the banking sector, the officials said.
Contacted, Md Serajul Islam, spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, said the central bank usually sends the financial scam related information to the banks, which were involved in the scams, by issuing letters.
Such corruption related information might have been disclosed from the banks, he said.
Besides, no central bank official is allowed to share any information with media outlets, as BB has assigned a spokesperson to do so, he said.
The matter of the show-cause notice given to the officials will be resolved after the reception of their response, Islam said.
The banking regulator restricted entrance of journalists to the central bank headquarters soon after Abdur Rouf Talukder had joined Bangladesh Bank as its governor on July 12.
The decision, however, was withdrawn later.
