'Gold in BB vault is all right'

State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan today said the gold in the Bangladesh Bank vaults is "all right".

Bangladesh Bank is responsible for looking after the property of the public and if there has been any negligence in the matter then it is the job of the government to look into it, said MA Mannan.

He said this while answering questions of journalists during a press briefing on the allegations of adulterated gold in the highly secure vault of Bangladesh Bank.

He briefed the press at his secretariat office in Dhaka after a meeting this afternoon.

Mannan will brief the finance minister after his return to the country on the issue. The finance minister will then decide whether this issue needs further investigation, MA Mannan added.

The central bank yesterday refuted the allegation that one of the gold bars kept in its highly secure vault by the customs department was adulterated.

"The purity of the gold [bar] was 40 per cent, but it was mistakenly written 80 per cent ... It was a clerical error," BB Executive Director SM Rabiul Hassan told reporters at an emergency briefing at the BB headquarters yesterday.

The minister also said that the property of the people is safe and alright at the Bangladesh Bank.

Bangla daily Prothom Alo ran a report yesterday saying mixed metals were found in the gold bar kept at the vault, and the percentage of gold in it was found at 46 per cent instead of 80 per cent.

Rabiul reasoned that it happened because of similarity between the number 4 in Bangla and the number 8 in English.