Recently, several news reports were published in media on the visit of National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials to the Gulshan Branch of BRAC Bank PLC. Some of these reports had misleading titles, contained inaccurate information, leading to misunderstandings regarding the event. BRAC Bank issued the following statement as a clarification:
On April 30, 2024, National Board of Revenue (NBR) Tax Zone-15 officials visited the Gulshan Branch of BRAC Bank PLC. to collect tax dues from the account of Ulka Games Limited, a client of the bank. First of all, it was not a raid. The officials did not even go to collect tax money from BRAC Bank. Instead, their purpose was to collect tax receivables from the bank’s customer account. In news reports, the mention of bank evading tax was utterly false. Some of these reports had misleading titles and contained inaccurate information, leading to misunderstandings regarding the event.
BRAC Bank was unable to pay the tax amount of its client to the NBR officials due to an order from the High Court Division of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. We provided a written response outlining the reasons for this, as we are committed to respecting the law and avoiding any contempt of court.
Subsequently, on May 1, 2024, a vacation bench issued a stay order on the transfer of the fund until the scheduled hearing on May 5, 2024. After the hearing, BRAC Bank will take appropriate action as per the directions of the Hon’ble Court. BRAC Bank is fully committed to ensure full cooperation to NBR in collection of tax money.
