Photo : Collected
Since the fall of the Awami League government, the country's money laundering rate has increased. The government has sent the draft Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) agreement to 10 countries to recover these smuggled money.
According to the sources of several related intelligence agencies, the level of power of attorney authorization requests has recently increased in the embassies of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Through this kind of power of attorney, expatriates of these countries are selling the wealth of the country and taking money abroad through hundi.
Due to this, instructions have been given to take quick action on cash and suspicious transactions.
These issues came up in the Finance Ministry meeting held recently under the chairmanship of the Finance Advisor. The interim government is taking initiatives to bring back these smuggled money to the country. According to the sources of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since August 5, there has been an increase in requests for power of attorney authorization from expatriate Bangladeshis in the embassies of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Basically through this money is transferred through hundi by selling property in the country.
As Bangladeshi accounts are non-convertible, there is no way to legally take money abroad from Bangladesh. Hence such requests have increased. Apart from this, draft mutual legal assistance (MLA) agreements have been sent
with 10 countries to recover money from smuggling. The countries that sent the MLA draft agreement are Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Thailand and China. At the same time, a legal wing has been formed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to monitor the issues.
Meanwhile, Central Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur said that money laundering and corruption will be reduced if money can be recovered through proper investigation of at least 12 big cases of money laundering. It is possible to take effective measures to recover smuggled money in Bangladesh. In this case, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligent Unit (BFIU) and the Anti-Corruption Commission can act as coordinating bodies.
In this regard, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, Finance advisor of the interim government said, that in addition to the initiatives taken so far to prevent money laundering and recover the money, we must also work on the cases of money laundering that occurred earlier. Bangladesh's anti-money laundering system will be effective if crimes are prosecuted through fair enforcement of the law.
It is learned that in the current context, BFIU will take quick steps to take effective measures to analyze Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs) and Suspicious Transactions (STRs). Apart from this, it has been decided to continue the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs MLA agreement to recover the money smuggled.
ACC will successfully close at least 10 to 12 money laundering cases. Apart from this, ACC and CID of Bangladesh Police have also decided to jointly investigate previous cases in addition to ongoing money laundering cases. However, a senior official of BFIU, who did not wish to be named, told The Daily Messenger that no action could be taken as there were no legal hurdles in selling property through power of attorney in the country. This senior officer of BFIU also thinks that the law should be changed.
Messenger/Sajib
