The mystery surrounding Bangladesh Bank's reserve gold was apparently due to a clerical mistake created by the similarity in the figure 4 in Bangla and 8 in English.
The central bank in its explanation said the mistake was that the Bangla figure 40 per cent was misconstrued and recorded as 80 per cent in English.
Former secretary of Bangladesh Jewellers' Samity Dr Dewan Aminul Islam Shahin told journalists on Tuesday that the BB explanation that the mystery was created by a clerk who wrote 80 per cent in English while translating 40 per cent written in Bangla is acceptable, however, the BB will have to prove the purity of the gold in the vault.
Bangladesh Bank has denied claims that the gold deposited by the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) at the central bank's vault is inferior in quality. The goldsmith, who was employed to measure the gold, may have committed the error.
"The mistake Bangladesh Bank made was merely a clerical error in recording the purity of the gold," a BB official said.
The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission will examine about 1 tonne of gold of the Bangladesh Bank's vault that has allegedly been adulterated. Representatives of the CIID and BB will be present during the examination to solve the mystery surrounding the reserve gold, BB sources said.
The goldsmith, who had tested the purity of the gold, has denied any mistake on his part.
Bangladesh Bank brushed aside the claims describing the whole affair as a 'clerical mistake.'
Central bank officials claimed the purity of the gold kept by the Customs detectives was 40 per cent, but it was recorded 80 per cent as the number 4 in
Bangla and 8 in English are identical.
They blamed it on one of its registered goldsmith, Giasuddin, the owner of Shokh Jewellers. Giasuddin denied making any mistakes over testing the purity of the gold kept at the vault in 2015.
"I was called in by the Bangladesh Bank, when the Customs detectives came to deposit the gold in the vault. I was told to test the purity. I found it 40 per cent pure and told the BB officials accordingly. But the central bank officials recorded it as 80 per cent by mistake," he said.
On the central bank blaming him for the gaffe, Giasuddin made it clear that his job only involves testing the purity and not recording it in the document. "Bangladesh Bank officials recorded it and CIID officials were there as well on that day," he added.
The goldsmith said Customs officials had deposited two gold coins, which tested 40 per cent pure.
On the customs intelligence's claims of 22-carat gold turned out to be 18-carat, Giasuddin said that might stem from the difference in the testing methods.
"I tested the gold in the traditional method - using a touchstone. But the Customs use digital machines, which may have caused different readings. The Bangladesh Bank also uses modern technologies to test gold's purity. They have a Germany made machine," Giasuddin recounted.
The traditional gold testing method involves a small tablet of dark stone, such as a fieldstone, slate, or lydite, which is also referred to as a touchstone. The object to be tested is scratched on the surface of the stone and a test acid solution determines the carat of the scratch.
The CIID found the anomalies while inspecting randomly sampled gold from 963kg deposit in the central bank's vault from January to April last year,
CIID kept gold coins and rings weighing 3.3kg in the vault on August 23 in 2015, but during the inspection it found adulteration in the gold, which caused the state a loss of over Tk 11.1 million, according to the report. CIID agents often seize large hauls of smuggled gold at airports and hand these to the Bangladesh Bank.
