The central bank and the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) extended financial support amounting to Tk 37.0 million to three NGOs or non-governmental organisations to promote 'Yes' vote in the reform referendum, sources reveal.
The money was given to Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan), Students against Discrimination Foundation and Debate for Democracy to do the campaigning.
But central and commercial bankers and money-market experts term release of the CSR funds for launching political campaign a "violation of banking norms".
Seeking anonymity, a BB official who attended the bankers' meeting on January 11 last where the agendum of supporting the referendum campaign was surprisingly included says there was no such issue in the agendum of the rare bankers' meet.
"I call it rare because Secretary of Financial Institutions Division (FID) Nazma Mobarak was present at the meeting, which surprised all of us because it was a meeting of bankers," he says.
At the outset of the meeting, the central banker says, the then Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor, Dr Ahsan H. Mansur, informed that they had a special agenda. Because of that, he invited the FID secretary to the meeting.
But a central banker opposed it, saying that 'there is no room for the regulator under the existing policy to get engaged in such activities' and it created "some sort of chaos" in the meeting.
Surprisingly, he says, the following day, seven members of the ABB, including its chairman, were called in and instructed to release CSR funds to Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan), Students against Discrimination Foundation and Debate for Democracy on campaigning purposes. On condition of anonymity, another BB official says, the opposition part was removed from the minutes of the bankers' meeting, which was a "surprise".
On January 25, 2026, he mentions, the BB held its board meeting where a proposal of providing Tk 90 million to the students' foundation was placed but the board members opposed it. "Despite the fact, an allocation of Tk 10 million was issued."
The central banker says the Students against Discrimination Foundation was not a registered entity when the instruction was given. But, within a time of 10 days, the foundation got registration and received the CSR funds from the BB.
Couple of weeks ago, the central banker recounts, a dedicated BB team has done inspection of its given funds to the foundation but it did not find its any dedicated office. Then they managed to communicate with some of its members and held discussion at a restaurant but they failed to provide enough documents regarding the spending of the money.
"It is a complete mess," the official comments.
Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Arief Hossain Khan says the central bank under the instruction of the interim government had given the funds to promote referendum only, not for 'yes vote'.
"It is a CSR fund which can be used for the welfare of the people," he adds.
According to the BB's CSR policy, 30 per cent of the funds to be used for education sector, 30 per cent for health sector, 20 per cent for environment and climate change-related affairs and the remainder must be used for sports, disaster management, cultural development of the deprived communities, income-generating activities for small entrepreneurs and marginalised farmers.
The ABB Chairman, Mashrur Arefin, says the ABB leaders were called to a meeting and asked to provide large sums of money from the banks for campaigning in favor of the 'Yes' vote.
"We informed that, in that case, written instructions from the central bank would be necessary so that we can place it to our boards for approval."
They were then asked to provide Tk 200 million to Tk 250 million from ABB's own fund for three organisations.
"We refused to give money to the Student Foundation because it was not registered. We also informed that ABB's fund was small, so we would not be able to provide such large amount. We agreed to give Tk 25 million to Shujan and Tk 2.0 million to Debate for Democracy," he says.
Meanwhile, instructions came from the Chief Adviser's Office to the banks to support campaigning for the 'Yes' vote. The current ruling party also declared its support for the 'Yes' vote. Then, after collecting detailed budgets from the two organisations, the ABB issued the cheques.
"Everything that happened here was due to receiving directions on the matter in two meetings. We must, of course, listen to the instructions and advice of the regulator," says Mr. Arefin, also managing director and chief executive officer of City Bank PLC.
He adds that Debate for Democracy has already submitted its audit report regarding the money it received. Shujan will also submit its audit report soon.
Contacted over the phone, immediate-past BB governor Dr Ahsan H. Mansur says there was a decision of the interim government instructing all the government bodies to extend support for the referendum. "It was a part of the interim government, not the BB."
"We were not telling anyone to do the campaign for 'yes' vote but for the referendum," he told the FE correspondent.
Regarding the justification or logicality for using CSR funds for such campaign, the former central bank governor says the referendum was a part of reforms by the interim government for the public welfare and money was spent for public welfare.
"It was not spent for any personal gains. So, nothing wrong with that," he adds.
Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik Secretary Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar was a member of reform commission of the interim government. Replying to a question over conflict of interest to get the CSR funds, he says he had attended the bankers' meeting on invitation.
"There was no conflict of interest because reform is our national priority after the consensus of all the political parties and we have been promoting reforms and governance for years for the better future of Bangladesh," he says.
He mentions that they have already submitted a preliminary statement of expenditures to the ABB. "The audit is ongoing. We hope to be able to submit the report within a short period of time," says Mr. Majumdar.
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