The Bangladesh Bank has opened an inquiry after following the media report over anomalies in gold kept at its vault by Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID).
It has formed a six-strong ‘high-powered’ committee headed by Executive Director ANM Abul Kashem, people familiar with the matter confirmed Bangla Tribune.
Kashem will be leading the panel consisting of four general managers and a deputy general manager of the central bank.
Governor Fazle Kabir formed the panel on Monday upon instructions from the government.
According to a member of the inquiry committee, they have been told to file a report within two months.
“We will be also looking in to upgrading the process of depositing gold in the vault as well as the process of testing the precious metal,” the panel member told Bangla Tribune, asking not to be named.
On Jul 17, Bangla daily Prothom Alo reported that the CIID found anomalies while inspecting a random sample of gold from the 936kg kept at the central bank’s vault from January to April last year.
CIID kept gold coins and rings weighing 3.3kg in the vault on Aug 23, 2015, but during the inspection, it found adulteration in the gold, according to the report.
It said that 22-carat gold has been shown as 18 carats in records maintained by the Bangladesh Bank.
The same day, Bangladesh Bank, in a media conference, denied of keeping spurious gold in its vault, describing it as a ‘clerical mistake’ and blamed it on the goldsmith.