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Govt tough against terror financing, money laundering


Bangladeshpost
Published : 13 Sep 2019 09:49 PM | Updated : 04 Sep 2020 01:33 AM

Durjoy Roy

In the wake of government’s avowed policy of zero tolerance against money laundering and terror financing, it has decided to prepare a three-year plan of action to work with 57 countries in this regard. The action plan will be placed before the annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), a 41-member inter-governmental organisation to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. The meeting will be held in Bangladesh next year.

In its goal to implement the zero tolerance policy against money laundering and terrorism financing, the government has gone for a strong position to formulate policy, reform old laws and enforce them effectively. The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, the government agency responsible for investigating money laundering, suspicious transactions, and cash transaction reports, has started working in this regard. More attention is being given on management of banks and activities of the National Board of Revenue, sources said.

The country’s existing laws cannot work effectively to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing as these laws were formulated long ago when these two phenomena- money laundering and terrorism financing- were not recognized. As a result, financing in militancy and terrorism is not coming down, rather increasing in the country.

The economists of the country have also urged the government to take measures to make the laws in this regard more effective, sources at the Ministry of Finance said. Of late, following a meeting in this connection, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has also told the media that the existing laws need to be amended as they were formulated long ago when the two phenomena - money laundering and terrorism financing- were not known.

“Money is being laundered in two ways - banking system and import-export. All kinds of measures are being taken to stop money laundering. An initiative has been taken to set up scanner machines at the ports. Besides, a decision has been made to open a special cell at the National Board of Revenue to check overpricing and underpricing. Money laundering will come down remarkably after implementation of these initiatives,” the minister said.

The finance minister further said that at present there is only provision for imposing fine if an irregularity is detected in a consignment. But laws are being amended to confiscate the goods besides jail sentence if irregularity is found with a consignment. Money laundering also occurs through false statement about import-export and opening forged Letter of Credit (LC) with banks. Stern actions will also be taken to prevent money laundering in these ways, he added.

Experts say money laundering and terrorism financing have become crucial problems for Bangladesh. Black money is not being invested here, rather it is being laundered. On the other hand, terrorists and militants are collecting money abroad using various tactics and that money is being spent to spread militancy in the country. As a result, development activities of the country are being hindered. So, these problems should be resolved immediately, country’s economists opine.

Noted economist and chairman of Dhaka School of Economics Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said the militants have many NGOs and financial organizations in the country which have a lot of money. Some militant individuals have also lots of money. They also receive money abroad in various ways. The government will have to ban these NGOs to prevent terrorism financing in the country, he added.

The government has been working to stop money laundering and terrorism financing since 2002. Financial Intelligence Unit has been set up at the central bank. Bangladesh became a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), a 41-member inter-governmental organization to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. RAB, CID and other intelligence agencies have been involved in anti-money laundering and terrorism financing activities. Several laws have also been amended.

Now the government has taken an all-out effort to prevent money laundering and terror financing and has decided to work actively with the AGP. The APG, founded in 1997 in Bangkok, Thailand, consists of 41 member countries and a number of observer jurisdictions and international and regional observer organisations.

The APG has two Co-Chairs: one permanent and one two-year term rotating Co-Chair. The permanent Co-Chair is Australia, represented by Deputy Commissioner Leanne Close, Australian Federal Police, and the current rotating Co-Chair is Bangladesh, represented by Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hassan, the head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit and Deputy Governor of the Bangladesh Bank.