The chief officer of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) in charge of anti-money laundering coordinator said about the cause of the dollar crisis. Masud Biswas said, ‘Bringing back smuggled money is a difficult task. Dollars once gone are not easily brought back.
Developed world countries are also getting 1 percent refund of money from smuggling. For this reason, tax evasion is working to recover money without returning the money laundered. We have to do the same.
He said these things in reply to the questions of the journalists during the chief guest’s speech at the annual report release ceremony of BFIU 2021-22. He also said that some products have been imported by increasing the price by 20 to 200 percent. Strengthening surveillance does not. It has been prevented. Now we have to work on what is being imported by showing low prices to evade taxes. This list includes cars. Meanwhile, supervision is being strengthened.
BFIU Additional Director Md. Kamal Hossain presented the details of the annual report. BFIU Deputy Director Nazrul Islam, Director Rafiqul Islam, Arif Hossain and other senior officials were present.
According to the report of Global Financial Integrity (GFI), an international organization based in Washington, from 2009 to 2018, 4 thousand 965 million dollars were smuggled from Bangladesh under the guise of foreign trade. Its amount in Bangladeshi currency is 4 lakh crores. However, the BFIU said yesterday that the GFI data is not entirely reliable.
Masud Biswas said about the freedom of work of BFIU, “My freedom of work is 100%. But there is shortage of manpower. Bangladesh Bank is also running with 50-60 percent manpower. Whatever comes out of our search, is forwarded to law enforcement agencies. For this we have to depend on them for the success of our work. They go right down to the grassroots. They have the power to take legal action.”
BFIU prepares various reports and sends them to various law enforcement agencies including Anti-Corruption Commission, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Police for legal action.
BFIU Additional Director Md. Kamal Hossain said that 250 Swiss banks are operating in different countries of the world. As a result, the money deposited in all countries is coming to the Swiss bank report.
Expatriates in different countries are keeping money in these banks. And the money being deposited in the Swiss bank is only 3 percent of the people. The amount of which is 242 crores. The rest of the money is the liability of another bank, unconnected account. In the media, only the information of the money deposited in the Swiss bank is published, the liability we have in that bank is not published.
Switzerland has changed the law, from next year information on who has kept money will be available. For this, the name of the person, the content of the complaint and the name of the bank of that country should be sent.
According to the annual report of the central bank of Switzerland, the amount of money deposited by the citizens of Bangladesh in the Swiss bank has increased by about three thousand crore rupees in a span of one year.
In 2021, the amount of money collected by Bangladeshis in various banks in Switzerland is 871.1 million Swiss francs, which is about 8,275 million taka in Bangladeshi currency. In 2020, the amount of this money was 5 thousand 347 crores.
One of the causes of the dollar crisis is money laundering, in response to the question. Masud Biswas said that imports are decreasing. The situation will be normal in the future.