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The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has called all chief anti-money laundering officers from state-owned and private banks to discuss the prevention of money laundering.
Two meetings are scheduled to be held at 11:30 am and 3:00 pm on Thursday, according to a letter issued by Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday.
BRAC Bank Deputy Managing Director Chowdhury Moinul Hossain, who is also general secretary of the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer Conference, confirmed the meeting.
However, he did not provide any details, reports bdnews24.com.
The news agency spoke to the officers at several banks, but they were clueless about why the meeting was called. But they believe the BFIU called the meeting as the money laundering issue has caught the spotlight after a mass movement overthrew the Sheikh Hasina-led government.
The BFIU must have called the meeting to discuss the issue and prevent money laundering, they said.
"We have information that many corrupt government officers and politicians are trying to siphon out the money they accumulated through corruption," said a BFIU officer when asked.
"Generally, we can't freeze a bank account without the recommendation from the authorities or the law enforcement agencies. We'll give instructions to the banks to prevent this situation."
They said people engaged in money laundering would be exposed once the interim government was formed.
Earlier, a deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank had said that all info about those laundering money abroad would be shared after the formation of the interim government.
Bankers face a lot of challenges, said Deputy Governor Khurshid Alam in a meeting with the media on Tuesday.
"Sometimes, we can't take strong measures against some groups. We have to face pressure from many sides."
Deputy Governor Nurun Nahar said that the shift in politics would lead to more changes. "There'll be change in this [banking] sector too," she said.
"Several laws exist regarding loan defaults but those aren't implemented due to many pressures. But I hope more measures will be taken in this regard."