The High Court (HC) on Thursday issued a suo motto rule on the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to know whether the specific data of Bangladeshi depositors in Swiss banks was sought.
A bench of HC comprising justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and justice Khizir Hayat came up with this rule – a day after Swedish ambassador to Dhaka Nathalie Chuard claimed the government didn’t seek any specific information to Swiss banks or authorities.
She came up with this remark on Wednesday at a discussion arranged by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at the National Press Club.
Nathalie Chuard claimed there are allegations that most of the money parked by Bangladeshis in the banks of Switzerland is amassed illegally. But the Bangladesh government is yet to seek any specific information from the Swiss banks or relevant authorities regarding the deposits.
Quoting the annual report of Swiss National Bank (SNB) for 2022, ambassador Nathalie Chuard said Bangladesh nationals deposited approximately Tk 30 billion in different banks of Switzerland last year.
The deposits of Bangladeshis in the Swiss banks reached an all-time high of Tk 83.33 billion in December 2021.
The Swiss ambassador also disclosed that they briefed the Bangladesh government about the way of availing information on the deposits in the Swiss banks, but they received no query in this regard.
The lawyers of the state and the ACC were asked to inform the court regarding the matter by Sunday.
Deputy attorney general AKM Amin Uddin told Prothom Alo that the Swiss ambassador mentioned that the Bangladesh government didn’t seek any specific information from Swiss banks or authorities. After verifying the authenticity of her claim, the state and the ACC were asked to inform the court if the info of depositors in the Swiss banks was sought.