Md Mojahidul Islam
When a project fails and wastes public money, logic dictates its cancellation. However, the Awami League government chose instead to pour even more funds into it.
This was the case with Binimoy, a digital transaction platform designed to enable interoperability between mobile financial services (MFS) providers.
Zareef Hamid, son of former State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, held a significant stake in Binimoy. The platform was launched in November 2022 by Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her ICT Adviser.
To develop Binimoy, the ICT Division signed a Tk 54.95 crore contract with a consortium of three companies: Velwire, Microsoft Bangladesh, and Orion Informatics.
“This Was Merely an Attempt to Loot Public Money”
Zareef Hamid was the founder and CEO of Velwire, while Zarif Munir, son of Muhammad Zamir, chairman of the Awami League’s international affairs sub-committee, was also part of the Velwire team.
Despite the investment, Binimoy turned out to be a massive failure, suffering from an alarming transaction error rate of 25-40 percent—far above the industry benchmark of less than 1 percent. This led to widespread dissatisfaction among users, as assessed by the ICT Division.
Only nine banks, three MFS providers, and two payment service providers joined the platform, highlighting its limited adoption.
Yet, despite its glaring failures, the previous government planned to invest Tk 277 crore more into the project until 2029 to make it “sustainable,” according to a proposal by the Bangladesh Computer Council under the ICT Division.
“We have stopped it—this was merely an attempt to loot public money,” said Faiz Taiyeb Ahmad, special assistant to the chief adviser, who now has executive authority over the Posts, Telecom, and ICT Ministry.
A Project Designed for Private Gain?
After its development, Binimoy was handed over to Bangladesh Bank for public rollout. However, in January 2024, the central bank signed a deal with two private firms to maintain and operate Binimoy—one of them being Velwire.
Documents reveal that the ICT Division aimed to integrate all banks and financial institutions into Binimoy. Moreover, it planned to route government bill payments, salary disbursements, benefit distributions, tax and VAT collections, pension payments, subsidies, and even metro rail card recharges through the platform.
The goal was to onboard over 100 institutions, which would have resulted in 50 percent of the platform’s earnings going to private companies—even though it was fully funded by public money.
The projected costs were significant: Tk 47.25 crore in FY 2023-24, Tk 49.48 crore in FY 2025-26, Tk 55.75 crore in FY 2026-27, Tk 60.61 crore in FY 2027-28, and Tk 64.54 crore in FY 2028-29. However, with the fall of the Hasina-led government, this plan has collapsed.
Central Bank Reclaims Control
The Bangladesh Bank should have been in charge of financial transaction systems, but the previous administration shifted control to the ICT Ministry, allegedly for the benefit of politically connected individuals, Ahmad stated.
To facilitate Binimoy’s success, the government deliberately weakened the National Payment Switch Bangladesh, he added.
“MFS interoperability has suffered because the previous government handed it over to the ICT Ministry, which created a shell company under Joy. Binimoy is now defunct,” said Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur on January 29.
At present, Binimoy is non-operational.
“The maintenance and operation contracts were signed, but the companies vanished after August 5. We are unwilling to continue working with such firms,” said Arif Hossain Khan, Bangladesh Bank’s spokesperson.
In response, Bangladesh Bank is developing a replacement platform.
“We are in discussions with the Gates Foundation, which has implemented a widely used payment application in 15 countries. We plan to test and swiftly deploy it,” Mansur said during a roundtable discussion on January 29.
