JAMAAT-LINKED BUSINESS ENTITIES : Central bank to get revised list

The ministry of finance will revise the list of Jamaat-linked banks and commercial establishments it sent to Bangladesh Bank last week for regulatory actions, as the planned list will comprise only banks and financial institutions.
The shortened list will be sent to BB latest by the end of this week, a top official of the bank and financial institution division of the finance ministry said.
The list of 521 commercial, financial and banking, and other business entities owned and managed by Jamaat-leaning individuals caused ‘unease’ among central bankers, as its purview only applies to banks and financial institutions, a senior BB official said.
‘We are short-listing the list to only banks and financial institutions,’ a top finance official told New
Age. The list prepared by the ministry of home was also sent to ministries of health, local government and education for actions, sources said.
The fresh list could be between 15 and 25, with all the suspected entities being in the banking and financial institution sector.
The finance ministry directive asked the BB to take actions against establishments linked to Jamaat-e-Islami if they were found to be involved in terror financing and aggressive anti-government campaign.
The list containing names of 521 business entities include enterprises in sectors such as banks, financial institutions, insurance, housing and real estate, educational institutions, cooperatives, coaching centres, hospitals, clinics, and media outlets.
Some of these entities were accused of being involved in various smear campaigns against the government and some other of terror financing, a home ministry official said, quoting an intelligence report.
Sources in the bureaucracy said the latest move of the government to cripple or eliminate the Jamaat-linked commercial entities would escalate further in coming days, with other ministries of the government taking a hard-line in hunting down commercial entities run by Jaamat or Shibir supporters.
‘If a full-fledged drive is taken against Jamaat-connected business organisations, many entities will be compelled to shutdown their operations fearing reprisal from the government, which might lead to unemployment and bankruptcy for many,’ a former BB general manager, preferring anonymity, said.
He said organisations linked to terror financing and money laundering should be brought to book, regardless of their political leaning.
BB deputy governor Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan, talking to New Age, said they had already undertaken efforts to comply with the instruction of the ministry of finance.
Any shortened list, as planned by the ministry, would be better for BB, he added.