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Download PDF On the first day of government imposed six-month moratorium on some activities of Oriental Bank, depositors yesterday crowded its branches to withdraw their money.
Following writ petitions by four accused officials of the Oriental Bank, the High Court yesterday issued a rule asking the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to reply why the cases against the four shall not be declared illegal.
The court also directed the law enforcers not to arrest the petitioners and asked the petitioners to appear before the court on Thursday.
The government on Thursday imposed a moratorium for six months on all activities of Oriental Bank except seven kinds of transaction, including limited deposit withdrawal.
The finance ministry in a gazette notification said the decision was taken to ease depositors’ plight and create a congenial atmosphere to recover its outstanding loans.
Many depositors withdrew their deposits following the ceiling limit of Tk 10,000 while some others, convinced by the bank officials that the bank will not be shut down, returned without withdrawing any money, said the branch managers.
The overall situation was normal in Dhaka but a bit panicky situation was observed at some branches on the city outskirts, Assaduzzaman Khan, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Oriental Bank, told The Daily Star last night.
“Some clients withdrew their deposited money and some others deposited money to the bank. As a result net withdrawal stood at Tk 3 crore yesterday,” the bank CEO said, adding that they hope the situation will come to normal today or tomorrow.
Several anxious clients who came to withdraw their money wanted to know what will happen if the bank shuts down, said an official of Motijheel branch.
The clients also requested the bank officials to allow withdrawal of money over the ceiling limit for ‘daily emergencies’, he said.
The bank officials asked the clients to submit applications for withdrawing money over existing ceiling limits so that the bank can negotiate with the central bank.
The bank officials said they could convince the customers by giving assurance that the bank will not be shut down.
A depositor wanted to close his account but the bank officials persuaded him to change his decision, said an official.
An official of Oriental Bank Karwan Bazar branch said they cashed a total of 70 cheques worth Tk10,000 each.
A compiled version of the requests that they received from the customers yesterday will be sent to the Bangladesh Bank for further consideration, said sources at the bank’s head office.
Four accused officials of the Oriental Bank yesterday filed writ petitions with the High Court challenging the ACC’s authority to file cases against them.
Barrister Moudud Ahmed moved a petition in favour of one of four accused Oriental Bank staff Tariqul Islam Khan, an assistant vice president of the bank.
Moudud, the BNP leader who was the law minister of the immediate past government during the formation of the ACC, said the ACC has no legality to file such corruption cases as it has no rules in this regard till date.
Advocate Ozaer Faruk moved the other three writ petitions for M Shafiuddin, Abu Zafar and Arifur Rahman.
The court issued a rule asking the ACC to reply why the cases shall not be declared illegal. The court also directed the law enforcers not to arrest the petitioners and asked the petitioners to appear before the court on Thursday
Following request from the Oriental Bank authorities, the government yesterday deployed police at every branch of the bank and no unwanted incidents occurred during rush transaction hours.
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