Non-Banking Financial Institutions Asked To Freeze Hizb ut Tahrir Bangladesh Accounts

October 26, 2009 12:00 p.m. EST

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - The central bank of Bangladesh has ordered the non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) to freeze accounts of the banned Hizb ut Tahrir Bangladesh, officials told AHN Media Monday.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country's central bank, issued a fresh order in this connection on Monday and asked the chief executives of the country's 29 NBFIs to find out the organization's accounts and freeze them.

The fresh order came a day after the central bank asked the chief executives of the country's 48 commercial banks to freeze accounts of the banned Islamic outfit.

"We've issued the directive for the NBFIs on the basis of the existing Anti-Terrorism Act," a BB senior official told AHN in Dhaka, adding that the central bank has asked the NBFIs to immediately freeze accounts of those involved with the organization.

He also said the anti-terrorism laws enacted earlier this year empower the central bank to freeze accounts of suspected terror outfits and give directives to the NBFIs to halt monetary transactions meant for supporting militancy.

"We have been empowered to freeze any bank account for a maximum of 60 days in two phases to examine overall transactions of the suspected account," the BB official added.

Hizb ut Tahrir, an Islamic political party founded in Jerusalem in 1953, started its journey in Bangladesh in 2001. A number of countries, mainly in Central Asia and Middle East, have banned its activities due to the outfit's terror links.

On Oct. 22, Bangladesh government also banned all activities of Hizb ut Tahrir, following the bomb attack on ruling party Awami League lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh in the city on the previous day, stating that the group is a "threat to national security."

With Hizb ut Tahrir, the government has so far banned five Islamic outfits. The four others are - Shahadat-e-Al Hiqma, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and Harkat-Ul Jihad al Islami (HUJI).