A Supreme Court lawyer on Wednesday filed a writ petition in public interest seeking directives for transfer of Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves to ‘safer countries’ from the United States of America.
The petitioner, Md Mahmudul Hasan, contended that as part of global conspiracy, Bangladesh unfortunately became a target of the US as the latter imposed sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion.
He pointed out that the United States on May 24 announced a new visa policy for Bangladesh that targeted political leaders, government officials and judges.
Seizing a country’s foreign exchange reserves is an old practice when that country became the US target, said Mahmud.
The SC lawyer added that there was a possibility that the foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh might be seized by the United States on any pretext in near future.
‘Since most of Bangladesh’s reserves are with the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, if they are seized by the United States under any pretext, the country’s economy will completely collapse, and Bangladesh will not be able to import essential food items,’ he contended.
Finance secretary, foreign secretary, governor of the Bangladesh Bank and chairman of the Public Service Commission were made respondents in the writ petition.
On May 24, the United States announced a new visa policy to support Bangladesh’s goal of holding a free, fair, and peaceful national election, restricting visas for any Bangladeshi individuals undermining the democratic election process.
