The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) on Saturday appealed to the Swiss authorities for information on money siphoned off to the European country by individuals and organizations, said BFIU's additional director Kamal Hossain.
Recovering laundered money is a complex task. BFIU has received information about the finances of 67 individuals and organizations in Bangladesh from Swiss National Bank at different times, he also said at a seminar on money laundering and terror financing.
The bank has been publishing information about the finances of individuals and organizations in the Swiss National Bank since 2014, Hossain added.
He said that information has been passed on to various law enforcement agencies, the Anti-corruption Corruption Commission (ACC), and the investigating agencies in Bangladesh.
Earlier on Thursday, the Swiss National Bank in its annual banking statistics for 2021 revealed that money parked by Bangladeshi individuals and enterprises in Swiss banks hit a record high of 871.1 million Swiss francs (CHF) or about Tk8,265 crore in 2021 – a 55% rise from 562.9 million CHF a year ago.
So far BFIU has collected financial information about 800 individuals and organizations from different countries.
To curb money laundering and terrorist financing, the BFIU has seized Tk866 crore against nine cases under investigation till April in the current fiscal year.
However, in FY2020-21, the amount of money seized against seven cases was Tk38.38 crore.
At the same time, Tk1,333 crore has been seized against 63 cases under investigation in the last five years.
BFIU also confiscated Tk27 crore in the first ten months of the current FY22.
At the same time, Tk1,273 crore has been deposited in the treasury of the government in the last five financial years.
Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah, secretary to the Financial Institutions Division, said money laundering is not just about siphoning off money abroad, but also about attempts to whiten funds accumulated through illegal means.
"We don't have a scope to remain complacent. We must think about whether people are satisfied with our work or not. We have to achieve that through work," he added.
Rising inflation and high dollar exchange rate have become new challenges to the country's economic recovery after the Covid-19, said Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir.
"We all need to work together to overcome these issues," he also said at the BFIU program.
He noted that there is no need to panic as Bangladesh has ample foreign reserves.
"We currently have $41.5 billion in reserve which is enough to meet three months' import bill," he assured.
The central bank bought $7.9 billion from other banks in the last fiscal year because of the need to reduce import costs due to Covid-19 at that time.
It has been selling dollars to banks in line with demand as import spending has risen since the beginning of the current financial year.
"If we have to meet the import cost of $7 billion per month, we will need $22.5 billion in three months," he added.