The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Finance has expressed grievances over Bangladesh Bank’s failure to identify people involved with money laundering in the country.
“In 2013, Tk996 crore was siphoned off from the country. Over the past 10 years, an average amount of Tk500 crore annually was smuggled out of Bangladesh. What is the Financial Intelligence Unit (of the central bank) doing?” said Abdur Razzak, chairman of the standing committee, yesterday.
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune after a meeting at the Parliament premises, the former food minister said: “We have expressed our dissatisfaction over the issue. Money has been siphoned off to Canada. We are third in the world in buying second home in Malaysia. Yet we have failed to identify even a single launderer.”
Razzak further said last year, although the price of rice in the international market was around $400-500 per tonne, Bangladesh imported rice at nearly doubled price. “This must be investigated.”
According to Global Financial Integrity report, 80% of the money laundered out of Bangladesh is done through under invoicing and over invoicing.
Razzak said: “In 2014-15, what sort of capital items were imported? What industries were built using those capital items? Did we look into this? There is no investment in the country. We are trying to bring FDI (foreign direct investment) while money is being siphoned off from the country.”
BB heist report must be released to public
Razzak criticised the Ministry of Finance’s decision not to release the probe report on Bangladesh Bank heist to public and called for the report to be published immediately.
He told the Dhaka Tribune that Bangladesh’s global image was more important than the stolen $81 million.
“The probe report should be published. People should know the names of the masterminds behind this heist and they should be brought to book,” he said.
He also urged to expedite the process to bring back the stolen money.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
