The search committee, formed on August 12 to find suitable candidates for deputy governors of Bangladesh Bank (BB), has submitted four names to the interim government for the appointment of two deputy governors on Thursday.
A notification for the appointment of two of these selected individuals is expected to be issued shortly, according to relevant reliable sources.
Bangladesh Bank typically has four deputy governors. Following the shift in the Sheikh Hasina regime, BB governor Abdur Rouf Talukder, the head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), and two deputy governors resigned, leaving two positions vacant.
To fill these vacancies, the transitional government formed a search committee led by Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, former comptroller and auditor general (CAG) and former finance secretary. The committee also includes Mustafa K Mujeri, former chief economist of BB, and Nazrul Huda, a board director of the central bank.
Sources indicated that the committee considered Bangladesh Bank's current executive directors and former executive directors who retired within the last 20 years in its search for candidates.
In response to an inquiry, Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury told The Business Post that the search committee has already vetted and submitted the list of deputy governor candidates for the interim government's consideration. The government will issue a notification to appoint the new deputy governors from this list.
Mentioning that the search committee was formed on the directives of the interim government, the former CAG stated that it would remain valid and active until further government instructions, despite having submitted the list of suitable candidates.
Following a mass uprising of students and the general public, the Sheikh Hasina government toppled on August 5. Hundreds of Bangladesh Bank officials on August 7 staged a protest demanding the resignation of the central bank governor, four deputy governors, advisers, and the head of the BFIU.
At one point, protesters stormed the office of former deputy governor Kazi Sayedur Rahman and attempted to physically assault him. During the incident, the enraged officers forced him to sign a resignation letter.
The next day, deputy governors Kazi Sayedur Rahman and Md Khurshid Alam, head of BFIU Md Masud Biswas, and advisor Abu Farah Md Nasser officially resigned from their posts.
Sharna/Farhad
