Amedia report last year stated that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Bangladesh Bank (BB) would open a joint department against money laundering and financial corruption. In this connection, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was to be signed between them. The report also highlighted that Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington based research organization, published a report last December that more than Taka 1,00,000 crore had been siphoned off from Bangladesh to different countries in the last 10 years.
According to another estimate, over a hundred syndicates, including foreign ones, siphon off Taka 200 billion on an average from Bangladesh every year by a conservative count through various conduits of transferring money abroad. A section of businesses are reportedly engaged in sending money abroad through over-invoicing, under-invoicing and by using what is called the illegal hundi channels.
Taka 40 billion was sent abroad through various informal and illegal channels over the past decade, according to a rough estimate given by a previous military-controlled interim government in 2007-2008. That government also recovered Taka 12.1 billion, mainly from the business people at home, by using coercive means .The elected government that followed formed a taskforce to look into the matter of siphoned off money in the early part of its tenure. But that body showed no notable success to report afterwards.
But this is unfortunate. The present incumbents in power were loud about bringing back the resources illegally pumped out of the country. But their initial declared only enthusiasm was not seen matched by actual followed up vigorous steps to that end. But from such steps taken, the country’s economy could certainly get a big shot in the arm. For example, the substantial recovery of the stolen monies of potentates of past regimes, could help in the one-time boost of the public exchequer to finance various developmental and non developmental activities of the government.
Similarly, and more significantly, creating a network of safeguards against regular money laundering activities could lead to retention of huge resource–locally– and come in support of the foreign currency reserve. The Taka’s exchange rate would be also helped.
Thus, considering all of these factors and more, it is imperative to energize the activities of the task force. It needs to be far more active in completing negotiations with foreign governments and organizations at the soonest to secure their full cooperation in bringing back the laundered and stolen resources.
The Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) initiative –is a partnership between the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that supports international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds. Bangladesh has been lagging behind in forging optimum relations with StAR and this lethargy must end with stronger relationships forged with it.
A media report sometime ago informed that Bangladesh has finally become a member of the Egmont Group of countries. The Group aims to foster closer inter-state relations to deter money laundering and help individual countries to get the requisite cooperation to get back their monies illegally transferred abroad,But needles to say, such efforts — the ACC-BB pact, StAR initiative and membership of Egmont Group, all these and more will remain only as symbols of this country’s aspiration to get back adequately its stolen resources and not much else in the absence of determined follow up activities. Real success in achieving this goal depends on enough political resolve to utilize these mechanisms to put a pace in the money recovery efforts.
