Bangladesh News

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has sought directions from the foreign ministry in regard to the suspended bank accounts of the International Islamic Relief Organisation (IIRO), which has an alleged link with the al-Qaeda.

The BB in a letter apprised the foreign ministry last month of the requests made by the two private commercial banks to resume the bank accounts of IIRO.

The US Embassy in 2006 requested Bangladesh to provide information about some alleged terrorist organisations and the IIRO.

Following the allegation of the IIRO’s link with the al-Qaeda, the Bangladesh Bank suspended its bank accounts in Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Islami Bank earlier this year informed the BB in a letter that the IIRO has been involved in health, education and socio-economic development programmes of the country since 1990 and neither the BB nor the NGO Affairs Bureau has taken any regulatory measurers against the IIRO so far.

It also mentioned that the NGO Affairs Bureau has recently approved a Tk 60 crore ‘Health, Education, Socio-Economic Development’ project for the years 2007-12.

The IIRO has already allocated Tk 10 crore for the first phase of the project and asked the project officials to withdraw the fund from Islami Bank, Gulshan Branch.

Following the approval of the fund Islami Bank sought permission from the BB to re-activate the frozen account of IIRO so that it can withdraw the fund.

The IIRO has a fund of Tk 26.56 lakh with the Bahrain-based bank, the Bank Alfalah, and IIRO requested the bank to resume the operation of its account. Following the request Bank Alfalah requested Bangladesh Bank to provide it with the information about the present condition of IIRO bank account.

Earlier, Bangladesh Bank following the reports of alleged link of the IIRO with the al-Qaeda halted two bank accounts of the IIRO at Islami Bank and Social Investment Bank Ltd (SIBL) with whom IIRO had 50,445 shares worth Tk 1,000 each.

The BB suspended distribution of dividend against the shares of the IIRO with the SIBL while the Islami Bank voluntarily froze bank accounts of IIRO.

A high official of the Bangladesh Bank said the US Embassy had sought account information of IIRO under an UN resolution. But as the government currently is undertaking a project funded by the IIRO, the BB is seeking information from the foreign ministry regarding the status of the IIRO bank accounts.