Bangladesh Bank has asked its officials, except three spokespersons, not to provide any information to journalists in a bid to stop dissemination of news
related to scams in different banks, said BB officials.
The BB on July 7 issued an office order to its general managers of all departments asking them not to provide any information to the journalists.
A number of BB officials said that the central bank had taken the move as per the direction of government high-ups following latest reports about big loan scams of BASIC Bank and Janata Bank-S Alam Group.
‘The government high-ups have put heavy pressure on the central bank following these latest reports after the Hallmark and Bismillah Group scams. The government does not want leakage of any more inspection reports of BB in the media,’ said an official.
He said that these reports had put the government in an embarrassing situation at the fag end of its tenure. ‘The central bank has many more investigation reports in its possession and the authorities have now taken utmost attempt to stop circulation of these reports,’ he said.
The BB office order said that some sensitive reports of the central bank had recently been published in different mass media, which were dashing the BB’s image.
Besides, the office activity of the central bank has also been hampered due to the media reports, the BB direction said.
Such types of media reports are clearly violating the BB rules, it said.
The BB said that only the spokespersons of the central bank could provide the information to the print and the electronic media.
BB spokesperson M Mahfuzur Rahman told New Age on Tuesday that the central bank had taken the move as some journalists were disturbing the officials of the central bank even after the end of the office time.
Some of the reporters have torn off the office notes from the files of the BB officials, which is hindering the BB’s official work, he said.
According to the BB policy, journalists can only
collect information from the governor, deputy governors and spokespersons, he said.
When asked whether the BB had taken the initiative to stop reports on scams getting published in the media, he said that the central bank had taken the decision to maintain a sound official environment.
-With New Age input
