The government has repeatedly taken initiatives to stop trafficking. But there is no stopping money laundering from the country. Again the smuggled money cannot be brought back.
Recently, to restore stability in the dollar market, instructions have been given from the Prime Minister's office to adopt a strict policy to stop money smuggling. At the same time, it has been asked to try to recover money smuggled out of the country at various times.
On the other hand, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that export earnings are not coming to the country properly. Stricter monitoring is needed in this regard. IMF has also suggested changes in policy or laws if necessary. After taking charge as the new Finance Minister, Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali has also expressed his determination to prevent money laundering and bring back the money that has been laundered.
Meanwhile, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a global organization working to prevent money laundering, says that it is not possible to stop money laundering if the culprits are not severely punished. It is also impossible to recover the smuggled money without the goodwill of the government of any country. The company released a report on its activities for the outgoing 2023 year in the middle of last month. GFI mentioned these facts in that report. Otherwise, it has been informed that the discount on the third installment of the ongoing loan project with the organization may be withheld. Because of this, initiatives have been taken to bring back the smuggled money. At the same time, Bangladesh Bank will show strictness in stopping money smuggling. For this, the finance department said that after the announcement of the monetary policy for the second half of this year, some policy changes will be made.
On the other hand, money laundering has been identified as one of the causes of the ongoing dollar crisis in Bangladesh. According to estimates by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), a large portion of exports do not enter the country. Similarly, a lot of dollars are being smuggled. A class of businessmen are building wealth outside the country by illegally smuggling money out of the country. Meanwhile, about a year and a half ago, the then-finance minister announced the start of the campaign against corruption and money laundering. However, it did not play an effective role.
Recently, various countries including Singapore, Canada, Qatar, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates started a campaign for the purity of the financial sector. Several wealth and money smugglers were arrested. At that time, various information about the money smugglers of Bangladesh was also revealed. A strategy paper was also prepared considering this as an opportunity to bring back the laundered money.
However, it is difficult to bring back the money without political will and the direct cooperation of the concerned country, the former chief economist of the World Bank said. Zahid Hossain.
He said that the new government had come to power after the election. Now the government can play an effective role in bringing back the money if it wants to. But the question is whether the government will take any action for this or not.
It is known that a lot of money has been laundered from Bangladesh in 10 years. The names of some traffickers have already been published in various media. Information about money laundering from Bangladesh has come in the report of six international organizations. These are the Panama Paradise and Pandora Papers published by the US-based organization Global Financial Integrity (GFI), the Swiss Bank, the US-based organization of investigative journalists International Consortium for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report and the country's Second Home report published by Malaysia. Apart from this, some Bangladeshi money laundering information has been found in the USA, Canada, and Singapore.
According to the latest GFI data, more than Tk 6 lakh crore has been smuggled out of Bangladesh in 10 years. Which is almost equal to the national budget of Bangladesh. It is possible to build 20 Padma bridges with this amount of money. Most of this money smuggled out of Bangladesh went to the top 10 countries. These are the United States, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, Hong Kong and Thailand. However, recently, information about money laundering from the country to neighboring countries has also emerged.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of Bangladesh Bank has also released information on money laundering at different times regarding the repatriation of money smuggled out of the country. However, no initiative has been taken to bring back the smuggled money.
ARS
