Bill placed in parliament to punish top bank officials over digital cheque fraud

The Payment and Settlement Systems Bill, 2022 was placed in Parliament today with a provision for punishing top bank officials for committing bank fraud through digital cheques.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed the Bill which was sent to the parliamentary standing committee of the respective ministry. The parliamentary watchdog was asked to submit its report before the House within 30 days.

As per the Bill, the punishment could be a maximum of five years in jail or a Tk 50 lakh fine or both.

A provision has been included in the draft law to remove the owner, director, chief executive, manager, secretary or any other official of the company in the case of offences committed by the bank or the company.

The law has mentioned punishment for various crimes, but it is not applicable to mobile banking services.

There were regulations, but there was no precise law governing bank payments and settlements. Now that these have been going digital they did not fall under the purview of regulations, which is why the whole system has been brought under the law, separately.

In the Bill, there are 47 sections, including provisions for electronic money transfers, but cryptocurrency or virtual currency has not been included in it.

Cryptocurrency is not approved as a medium of exchange by the central bank.

The law has particular sections that outline offences. Section 4/5 defines how transactions will be conducted, how payments will be made, how they will be managed, and how services will be offered.

The draft also includes rules regarding board management, the minimum investment needed to be a member of the board, ownership and management, management of inspections, and rules of service.

Provisions include the transfer of funds through electronic means and the issuing of digital funds by the central bank.

Section 37 of the draft law outlines the punishment for those who commit offences.

Section 39 specifies that Bangladesh Bank can remove the owner, director, chief executive, manager, secretary or any other official of a company because of any offences they commit or are involved in.