Bangladesh Bank has barred journalists from entering the central bank premises for over a month, sparking dissatisfaction among journalists and leading to a protest in front of the institution on Thursday.
The journalists accused the current governor of Bangladesh Bank of shielding large loan defaulters, businessmen involved in irregularities, and banks from media scrutiny. They claimed that this decision was unprecedented in the central bank鈥檚 history.
This restriction came into place after media reports recently exposed various anomalies in the banking sector, especially concerning NRBC Bank Limited.
The media reported that shortly after Abdur Rouf Talukder became Bangladesh Bank governor in July 2022, his brother-in-law, Mohammad Ahsan Habib, a retired army official, was appointed as VP of NRBC Bank in August 2022 without any banking experience.
The appointment of the BB governor鈥檚 brother-in-law to a commercial bank was a violation of the rule, as the bank鈥檚 policy required 13 years of experience for such a post. Within a year, Habib was made permanent, promoted to SVP, and appointed company secretary, raising allegations of nepotism.
Representatives of the Economic Reporters鈥� Forum met with Abdur Rouf Talukder on Thursday to ensure free access for journalists, but the governor denied withdrawing such restrictions immediately, ERF said in a statement.
In its statement, ERF said that the journalists had been collecting information freely from Bangladesh Bank for 53 years and had never faced any restrictions in entering the central bank.
As the meeting reportedly yielded no immediate solution, journalists staged a sit-in protest outside the bank.
Bangladesh Bank executive director and spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque informed journalists that the central bank had decided that journalists would require specific authorisation (entry pass) to enter the bank and could only meet the spokesperson.
If a bank official grants a pass to a journalist, they can only meet with that specific official. Unlike in the past, journalists will no longer have free access to any department of the central bank, he added.
Journalists feared that no one would issue a pass to a journalist as the authorities would identify the official and charge him/her for giving an entry pass.