Bundesbank Limits China Cooperation on Death Penalty

Germany's Bundesbank said it will exclude Chinese and Vietnamese central bank officials from anti- counterfeiting seminars over concerns about the countries' use of the death penalty for serious cases of forgery.

"The Bundesbank wants to make sure it doesn't give advice on the subject of counterfeiting to countries that impose the death penalty for money forgery," a spokesman for the Frankfurt-based central bank said today, adding that this is currently the case "in at least 2 countries, China and Vietnam."

The Bundesbank will stop inviting officials from the 2 countries' central banks to its seminars on "cash management and combating counterfeit money," it said. It will continue to cooperate on other subjects, from monetary policy to banking supervision.

The move comes after German weekly newspaper Die Zeit reported earlier today that the Bundesbank was supporting Chinese officials in combating forgery and that at least 1 person in the South Chinese province of Hunan has been sentenced to death for counterfeiting.

The Bundesbank said on Jan. 17 it had shelved an anti-counterfeiting venture with the Central Bank of Bangladesh over concerns the country planned to impose the death penalty for serious cases of forgery. Bangladesh's central bank said the next day it would drop the plans.

The Bundesbank is currently examining if countries other than China and Vietnam are imposing the death penalty for forgery, the spokesman said. It has not yet made a decision on whether it will restart the anti-counterfeiting venture with Bangladesh.

Source: Business Week, January 27, 2013

Bangladesh Drops Death Penalty Plan After Bundesbank Objects

Bangladesh’s central bank plans to drop a proposal seeking death penalty for currency forgers after Germany’s Bundesbank shelved an anti-counterfeiting partnership with the South Asian nation citing the punishment.

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.

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Source: Bloomberg, January 18, 2013

German central bank pulls out of Bangladesh cooperation over plans to execute counterfeiters

FRANKFURT, Germany – Germany's central bank is shelving plans to help fight currency counterfeiting in Bangladesh because of reports the country is planning to include execution among the possible punishments for violators.

The Bundesbank said it wouldn't move ahead with its offer of consultation and training to the central bank of Bangladesh, after media reports about the proposals.

The Bundesbank said Thursday that while it "believes that counterfeiting is a serious criminal offence, it considers the threat of imposing the death penalty to be excessive."

It said it didn't know of the proposals when it agreed to the project, which was to start next month. It said it would not participate unless the plans are definitively dropped.

Source: Associated Press, January 17, 2013

'Death penalty' for counterfeiting currency

Dhaka, Jan 7 (bdnews24.com) – A law providing even for 'death penalty' for counterfeiting currency is under consideration , say Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Ashim Kumar Dasgupta .

The central bank is also introducing an analysis centre in Dhaka to combat large scale counterfeiting with assistance from Germany.

The new law proposes a minimum of six months imprisonment for producing counterfeit currency.

Bangladesh Bank Currency Management department officials said the law proposed the 'death penalty' for confiscation of 10,000 or more than 10,000 fake notes or relevant paper of the same amount, ink and other accessories.

The Executive Director told bdnews24.com that the 'Fake Note Analysis Centre' would be started with assistance from Deutsche Bundesbank – the central bank of Germany.

He said this will help develop skills amongst bank officials to track down counterfeit currency and improve security measures to check distribution of fake currency.

He said a delegation from Deutsche Bundesbank will visit Bangladesh in February to train up officials earmarked for posting at the proposed analysis centre.

The primary draft of the law prepared against counterfeiting has been sent to the Ministry of Law for necessary vetting.

The law also proposes a separate section to ease judicial difficulties caused by lack of witnesses.

According to central bank officials, more than five thousand cases are pending now on charges of currency counterfeiting.

Officials hope the law will be passed in the next parliament session.

Source: bdnews24.com, January 7, 2013