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Monday, February 28, 2011

[ALOCHONA] Islami Bank spends 8pc profit on militancy



Says Tuku; bank bins claim

Islami Bank Bangladesh is spending eight percent of its profit to fund militants in the country, State Minister for Home Shamsul Huq Tuku has said.The bank is spending the money through the Islami Bank Foundation, he said at a meeting at the secretariat yesterday.

According to the statement on its website, the bank had a net profit of Tk 352.8 crore in the nine months to September 2010.

The home ministry has asked the bank authorities to submit a report before April 7 on where the bank spent its profit, Tuku said at the 9th meeting on ways to combat militancy at his office. Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikdar, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker and Rapid Action Battalion Director General Mukhlesur Rahman also attended the meeting. The home ministry has intelligence report that the bank is spending certain amount of its profit to spread militancy, a meeting source told The Daily Star.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) in November last year assigned its General Manager SM Moniruzzaman to identify any suspicious transaction by Islami Bank Bangladesh and its foundation. Prior to that on November 8, the BB imposed a ban on giving funds to the foundation for its alleged lack of transparency in the transaction, and for violation of Islamic Sharia.A BB official said the general manager is tasked with overseeing the overall activities of the bank and monitoring its fund transfer to the foundation.

Islami Bank's Public Relations Officer Mohammad Abdul Mannan, however, denied the bank's involvement in financing militants. "If we fund militants then why the authority concerned does not halt our banking?" he told The Daily Star.
Tuku said the ministry asked the intelligence agencies to prepare a report on how the bank spends its "Jakat" (donation to the poor) before the next meeting on April 7.He added that he has information that the bank spent its Jakat fund in 16 phases though it is permitted to spend it in eight phases. The state minister instructed the IGP to use community police to uproot militancy from the society and to stop recruiting members for militant groups from academic institutions.
 


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