The Tk6 crore, said to have been used to fund the sensational seven murders in Narayanganj, might have been channelled through financial institutions rather than banks, a finance ministry high official has said.
This view was expressed at the conference of the chief anti-money laundering compliance officers (CAMLCO) of commercial banks at a city hotel yesterday.
Finance Secretary M Aslam Alam said: “The source of the money [Tk6 crore] might have been a financial institution from where it could have been withdrawn. After changing hands, it might have been deposited to another similar institution.”
He also said: “Money laundering nowadays takes place mainly through the capital market and the insurance companies instead of the banks. This is because the banks are now much more equipped to prevent laundering.”
After the murders in the port city, Shahidul Islam, father-in-law of slain panel mayor Nazrul Islam, alleged that the killers carried out the murder for a payment of Tk6 crore.
Following the allegation, a Bangladesh Bank probe team started looking into the accounts of the accused including the three ex-RAB officials to trace any unusual transactions before and after the crime.
Mahfuzur Rahman, an executive director of the central bank, said: “We are still investigating...We have found some transactions in the accounts of the said persons, but we have not yet found anything abnormal.”
Also present at the conference, M Shefaq Ahmed, chairman of the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IRDA), said: “The main asset of insurance companies is customers’ confidence. If a company is found involved with money laundering activities, it will lose clients’ confidence and business.”
Central bank Governor Atiur Rahman urged the managing directors of the insurance companies to comply with the Bangladesh Bank circulars to prevent money laundering.
The Financial Intelligence Unit of Bangladesh Bank and the IDRA jointly organised the conference in which MDs of all insurance companies and the CAMLCOs of banks took part.
