The venture was originally scheduled to begin in February, the Bundesbank said. It had not been aware of the death-penalty threat when it offered consultation and training services on counterfeit prevention as part of its cooperation activities, the German central bank said in a statement yesterday, putting the partnership on hold.
“Ours is a central bank with a human face and the death penalty in this case goes against these principles,” Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman said in a phone interview. “The proposal is being called back.”
The central bank had sent the recommendation imposing a death penalty for counterfeiting to the Ministry of Finance on Jan. 2 “inadvertently, without due review,” Rahman said. Bangladesh in October arrested 10 people in two raids for printing 88,000 Indian rupees ($1,630) and 25 million taka ($315,000) of currency notes, the Daily Star newspaper reported.
Source: Bloomberg, January 18, 2013