Finance Ministry officials have expressed concerns about the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) that has failed to file any cases against human trafficking, gold smuggling and terrorist financing since 2012.
Officials of several government agencies – including the Bank and Financial Institutions Division (BFID), Bangladesh Bank and BFIU – sat in a meeting at the secretariat yesterday as a preparation for the upcoming visit of a global anti-money laundering watchdog.
Sydney, Australia-based Asia/Pacific Group (APG) is scheduled to visit Dhaka in October. During their two-day stay, an APG team will meet a number of organisations and government agencies to evaluate the current status of anti-money laundering activities in Bangladesh.
In February last year, Bangladesh came out of the gray list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based intergovernmental policymaking body. FATF's standards are accepted internationally as the global policy benchmark for anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing and anti-proliferation financing measures.
The recognition meant that Bangladesh was now globally considered safe for international transactions and there would be significant reduction in the cost and time of financial transactions with the rest of the world.
APG's upcoming visit is crucial because whether Bangladesh would be able to stay clear of FATF's gray list would largely depend on the Sydney-based watchdog's recommendations.
BFID Secretary M Aslam Alam, who led yesterday's meeting, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The Anti-Corruption Commission has done well filing cases against corrupt people under section 97 of the anti-money laundering act. But the BFIU has failed to file any cases against manpower and gold smuggling and terrorist financing.”
Last year, FATF praised the significant progress Bangladesh made in improving anti-money laundering and combatting terrorist financing (AML/CTF) activities.
Success in establishing a financial intelligence unit was one of the reasons why Bangladesh graduated out of the list and became eligible to work with the APG, who help in sustaining AML/CTF regimes.
After yesterday's preparatory meeting, BFID Secretary Aslam said that two joint investigation units would be formed which will look into the type of lawsuits that can be filed in connection with AML/CTF activities in the country.
The units – comprising members from the BFIU, ACC, CID and NBR – will also monitor the proceedings of the existing lawsuits.
Asked whether the APG team will look into any political issues, the secretary replied in the negative.
“The APG team will look into pure money-laundering activities. The scope of money laundering has got broader. Legal money can become illegal if a person sends money abroad through 'hundi' instead of formal banking channels. If a person invests bribe money in the local share market, this is a kind of money-laundering,” the secretary said.
However, contrary to what the BFID secretary said, there is a provision that allows whitening of undisclosed money through investment in stock market against a 10% tax. That provision, introduced in budget a few years ago, is still effective.
Aslam also said that the BFIU will conduct mock interview sessions with various organisations and agencies to get them prepared so that they can give satisfactory answers to the APG team in a couple of months time.
Last month, Bangladesh and Australia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on AML/CFT cooperation. BFIU and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center signed the memo during a meeting of the APG from July 12-17 in New Zealand.
