Dhaka finds untrue Swiss Ambassador Nathalie Chuard's statement that Bangladesh has not sought information about Swiss bank accounts of Bangladeshis, who are suspected of siphoning off money.
The rebuttal came from Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday, a day after the Swiss envoy in Dhaka spoke on the matter at a meet with reporters amid reports that huge funds are being stashed into tax havens like Switzerland.
"After going through her comments, I have talked to the governor of Bangladesh Bank and the finance secretary and both of them informed me that they had sought information about Bangladeshi deposits in the Swiss banks but the Swiss authority did not respond," says Dr Momen.
The foreign minister also has requested the Bangladesh Bank Governor to make a statement to remove the confusion.
Asked whether the foreign ministry would ask the Swiss envoy about veracity of her statement, he said let the governor of the Bangladesh Bank make the statement about it. "After that, the ministry may proceed."
On Wednesday, the Swiss envoy, Nathalie Chuard, said Bangladesh had not made any request to the Swiss government regarding any specific funding.
She said this when asked whether Switzerland would provide information about money laundered into the Swiss banks by Bangladeshis.
Meanwhile another report adds: The High Court (HC) on Thursday wanted to know the authenticity of the Swiss ambassador's statement that the Bangladeshi government did not ask for any specific information on the money deposited by Bangladeshi individuals and organisations in Swiss banks.
The court asked the lawyers concerned of the state and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to see the newspaper reports published quoting Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard.
The lawyers have also been asked to inform the court about the steps of their respective organisations over the statement. The court fixed next Sunday (August 14) for passing further order over the issue.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order on a Suo Moto (voluntary) move after it had noticed newspaper reports published quoting the ambassador, who said Bangladesh government did not want specific information on its people's money in Swiss banks.
Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the state, while lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan represented the ACC.
On August 10, the Swiss ambassador made the comment at an event, styled DCAB Talk, at Jatiya Press Club hosted by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB).
The ambassador also answered various questions on Bangladesh-Switzerland trade relations, investment, and cooperation in resolving the Rohingya problem.
According to the annual report published in June this year by Switzerland's central bank, Swiss National Bank, Bangladeshis last year deposited money equivalent to Tk 30 billion in various banks of that country, different newspapers quoted her as saying.
In the programme, the Swiss envoy said, "We have informed the government about what needs to be done to get the information, but we have not been asked for any specific information."
"We are committed to maintaining international standards. It is possible to exchange such information on the basis of the consent of the two parties and it has to be established. We are working with Bangladesh on this," she added.
Funds parked by Bangladeshi nationals and entities in all the Swiss banks swelled by 54 per cent to around CHF (Swiss Franc) 871 million (Tk 83.18 billion) in the last calendar year, according to available data. The amount was around CHF 563 million in 2020.
The Bangladesh-linked money in the Swiss banks recorded a sharp rise after consecutive two years' decline.
The annual financial statements of 239 banks in Switzerland for the 2021 financial year, released by the Swiss National Bank in Zurich last June, unveiled the latest figure.
Although the figure is popularly perceived as money stashed from Bangladesh to Switzerland, the official statistics of the Swiss central bank didn't mention anything in this connection.
At the average rate of Tk 95.50 per CHF, the figure stands at Tk 83.18 billion by 2021, which was Tk 56.38 billion in the previous year.
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