The National Board of Revenue is making an all-out effort to chase and identify Bangladeshis, who have siphoned off money to settle in different countries under various second home schemes.
The authorities have already increased its capacity and working very cautiously to address the matter, NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman said yesterday.
A number of wings inside NBR are working very actively with policy level research, exchange of information with other agencies and with forensic lab to deal with the matter, he said.
The NBR chairman made the comment while inaugurating a two-day-long special workshop on “Countering Trade-Based Money Laundering” at the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (IDEB) building in the city.
Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate of NBR organised the workshop to create awareness and enhance capacity of customs officials to deter the trade-based money laundering, which accounts for around 85% of total money laundering from the country.
A total of 50 intelligence and customs officials from the country’s six customs stations and other customs directorates are attending the workshop.
With the Money Laundering Prevention (amendment) act 2015, the government has empowered the customs wing to investigate and prosecute the money laundering allegations. Earlier, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was the sole authority to investigate such offences.
Terming money laundering a complex problem across the globe, NBR Chief Nojibur Rahman emphasised more surveillance of the prevention mechanisms so that not only the outflow, but also the inflow of illicit money can be prevented.
Citing the examples of recent cocain haul, gold haul and fake currency haul, Nojibur said all these are connected with illicit financial flow.
He stressed more training to customs officials and coordination with all intelligence agencies to counter the financial crimes being committed with the help of new techniques.
Big countries have to impose regulations on their countries so that illicit money cannot enter their country from the developing countries, he stressed.
There are two steps in illicit financial flow. The first step works for entering illicit money into a country while the second one into the country’s economy.
Nojibur said NBR will work to create bar to the second stage to injecting illicit fund into the country’s economy.
The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate Director General, Moinul Khan, said the recent Global Financial Integrity report, launched in 2015, said a huge amount of money is being siphoned out of Bangladesh every year.
According to GFI report, USD$9.6 billion to Tk76,000 crore was siphoned off from Bangladesh alone in 2013, which is very significant and important signal to the authorities to address the issue, he added.
NBR engaged all three wings to combat transfer pricing
Replying to a query, Nojibur said NBR has engaged its all three wings – income tax, customs and value added tax – to combat transfer pricing.
Most businesses are honest in the country while only a few are dishonest, he said, adding that the tax regulator always makes a list of dishonest traders ready, and listing such traders is a continuous process.
The tax authority is monitoring the matter so that dishonest businesses, who evade tax, do business with fake VAT registration, and import goods through false declaration, come under its surveillance.
Responding to another query, Nojibur said the authorities will be able to meet the revenue target set for the fiscal year although the target is very high.
