Hours after his resignation as Bangladesh Bank Governor, Dr Atiur Rahman on Tuesday said he himself stepped down to protect the central bank’s image he built over the last seven years. “I resigned on my own like a hero to save the Bangladesh Bank’s image I built over the last seven years,” he told reporters at a press briefing at his Gulshan residence. Earlier in the day, Dr Atiur Rahman quit as Bangladesh Bank Governor amid a huge row over the heist of $101 million from the central bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Governor’s resignation came following his meeting with the Prime Minister at her office, according to the PMO’s Press Wing. Immediately after his resignation, the government decided to appoint ex-finance secretary Fazle Kabir as new Governor of the Bangladesh Bank. Claiming himself as a pro-liberation man believing in the ideals of Bangabandhu, Atiur said he tendered his repagination to the Prime Minister as she had appointed him the Governor. “She’s shocked as her eyes got watered. Even after that, she’s accepted my resignation.” He said the Prime Minister thanked him for playing an outstanding role in keeping the country’s economy stable and keeping Forex reserve at over $28 billion. Atiur said he ran the central bank with patriotism, conscience and loyalty towards the common people during his tenure. “I considered Bangladesh Bank as my child.” He said when he took over as the central bank Governor the reserve was $6.5 billion and he then took it to over $28 billion keeping inflation below six percent. Atiur said they had to take time to understand the heist incident. “We’ve been taking time to clearly understand the incident since it was the first cyber attack on our banking system. That’s why we took time in informing (the finance minister),” he told reporters. Responding to a query as to what was the weakness he identified for the heist, he said the new governor will identify it. He expressed the hope that his successor will take it as a challenge to face such attacks in the future. “I worked for the poor …now 30 million poor who are living at the grassroots level have Tk-10 bank accounts. I took the banking system to the grassroots level for the welfare of the masses,” he said. He claimed that his biggest success was to make private banks play a vital role in the economy. “Actually, I received the highest cooperation from the banking sector. They always supported me for which I’ve been able to successfully digitised the banking sector.” Noting that the government can take action against the central bank, he questioned the wisdom of informing the media beforehand. Atiur thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who always guided him during his tenure. He said he will now return to his main profession as educationist. “Now, I’ll work in my own profession with the experience achieved in the central bank. I thank Allah for this opportunity.” — Dhaka, Mar 15 (UNB)
