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No BB vault gold mismatch: Govt

Mannan still hints at probe


FE Report | July 19, 2018 00:00:00


The gold stored in the vault of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) remained as it was, State Minister for Finance MA Mannan said on Wednesday.

He, however, said the reported mismatch of the precious metal would be investigated further.

"The matter will be looked into," Mr Mannan told the media after an emergency meeting at the Secretariat.

He sat with officials of the central bank and the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

Mr Mannan said there was a 'clerical mistake' in keeping the tally of the gold.

The word 'forty' in Bangla looks similar to 'eighty' in English, thus creating misunderstanding, he noted.

The minister said, "You may rest assured that we are not taking the issue lightly. A big problem can be created from a small one."

"Therefore, we'll further review the matter at our level or by other agencies," he added.

Mr Mannan said: "We feel relieved that the matter is not as big as it was played up on Monday."

He claimed the quality of gold could vary if assessed applying different methods.

The two organisations-the central bank and the NBR-may have used different methods in this case.

The entire system, security, the gold quality assessment method and those who worked there would be scrutinised, he mentioned.

The junior minister spoke of taking stern action against anyone found guilty in this connection.

BB governor Fazle Kabir, Financial Institutions Division senior secretary Eunusur Rahman and Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate director general Dr Shahidul Islam joined the meet.

Also present there were Internal Resources Division additional secretary Md Nurul Absar, NBR member Kalipada Halder and Customs Valuation and Internal Audit Commissionerate commissioner Moinul Khan.

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