Swiss envoy’s statement embarrassed the state: HC

The High Court (HC) said the state has faced an embarrassing situation with the statement Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard made about the individual Bangladeshis who had deposited money in Swiss banks.

“It has been proved that her statement was not true. Therefore, there is no option but to withdraw her statement,” the court said.

The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat made such comment during hearing in this regard on Sunday (August 14).

The court said, “We do not understand how the ambassador said that no information was sought about the deposits of Bangladeshi money in the Swiss banks.”

Pointing at the prosecutor and ACC lawyer, the court observed that the information presented by them during the hearing proves that the Swiss ambassador’s statement over the deposits of Bangladeshis in the Swiss banks is contradictory.

Earlier on 11 August, the same HC bench asked the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) why they did not seek information about the individual Bangladeshis who had deposited money in Swiss banks and instructed them to submit a report on Sunday (14 August).

According to the report submitted on Sunday morning, BFIU, in a letter, requested its Swiss counterpart for information on reported money launders and their accounts in the banks located in Switzerland on June 17 last, reports media.

All kinds of initiatives were taken to collect information about Bangladeshi money launderers and several letters were sent to the concerned Swiss banks in this regard, the report added.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, last week, said Bangladesh sought information on the deposits of Bangladeshi money in the Swiss banks, but the Swiss side did not respond to the query.

Momen made the remarks after his conversation on the issue with Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder and Finance Secretary Fatima Yasmin.

The foreign minister said he advised the governor and the finance ministry to come up with the statements as confusion arose following some media reports quoting Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard.