The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), the financial intelligence agency of Bangladesh Bank, has ordered the freezing of bank accounts belonging to 11 individuals, including 10 journalists.
Those whose bank accounts have been ordered to be frozen are Chowdhury Zafarullah Sharafat, Acting Editor of Dainik Bangla, Shafiqur Rahman, former President of the National Press Club, Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Chief Editor of TV Today, Sajjad Hossain Sabuj, former Press Minister in Washington, Naznin Munni, Assignment Editor of DBC News, Ashish Ghosh Saikat, Chief News Editor of Independent TV,Anjan Roy, Editor (Research) at Gazi TV, Komol Dey, Chattogram Bureau Chief of Somoy TV, Abdul Gaffar Khan, Chief Editor of Dainik Amar Shomoy, Raju Ahmed, former Narayanganj correspondent of Jugantor
,Sanjib Chatterjee, Head of Public Relations at EXIM Bank.
Moreover, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), the financial intelligence agency of the central bank, has summoned bank account details of 28 journalists on October, 2024.
After receiving the letter from the Ministry of Information, BFIU wrote to the banks and asked for all the bank account information of the journalists.
The information being sought is whether there are any bank lockers, savings cards, credit cards and other financial instruments in their name or whether money has been transacted or not.
In meanwhile The National Press Club has suspended severals prominent journalists’ membership.
The interim government of Bangladesh, led by Prof. Dr. Muhammad Yunus, has reportedly revoked the accreditation cards of 187 journalists. This decision might be part of broader measures to regulate media activities or address concerns about journalistic practices under the current administration. However, such actions could also raise questions about press freedom and government transparency.