Jun.27, 2010

The government is making a fresh move to get back the funds believed to have been laundered during the rule of the BNP-led four-party alliance government, official sources said.

The Asset Repatriation Committee, formed during the tenure of last caretaker government, is going to be reconstituted soon, with a view to making renewed efforts for repatriation of the funds in question, an official in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

Besides, steps are under way to make the current Anti-Money Laundering Act and Anti-Terror Financing Act more stringent so that repatriation process sees no major hurdles as per the suggestion of Egmont Group, a top official in the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said.

All these steps have been taken recently as per the desire of the PMO, a source in the BB said.

The BB has written to MoF last week seeking the latter's guidance.

The MoF has advised reconstitution of the Asset Repatriation Committee with the inclusion of representatives from the Banking and Finance Division, MoF, the Bangladesh Police, the Anti-corruption Commission and the office of the Attorney General, sources said.

The committee is likely to be headed by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, instead of the B Governor as was in the case of the original committee, hinted a high official.

Meanwhile, the BB after being asked by the PMO has communicated to Egmont Group for its membership to facilitate the process of bringing back the laundered money, mostly by political leaders, it is learnt.

The Egmont, however, rejected the BB plea as the international Financial Intelligence Authority views that the country's Anti-Money Laundering Act and Anti-Terror Financing Act are not of international standard, a top BB sources said.

Besides, the Egmont Group wants to see a number of prosecutions to take place in the country for alleged money laundering activities for being eligible for its membership, he added.

"As the Egmont group rejected our plea for membership on the grounds that our relevant laws are weak, we are examining both the acts to amend as per their suggestion," a high official in the BB told the FE Saturday.

'The membership of Egmont group is pre-requisite for getting cooperation from global countries relating to information and data relating to laundered funds."

According to the World Bank, the cross-border flow of proceeds from criminal activities, corruption and tax evasion is estimated at between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion every year, half of which is from developing and transitional economies.

Only a few countries such as the Philippines, Panama and Nigeria have succeeded in bringing back a portion of the money piled up in foreign banks by their deposed dictators - Marcos, Noriega and Sani Abacha.

"Lack of enough information has snagged the overall initiative to repatriate the stolen assets. Since Egmont Group is the hub of data on the global flow of suspicious transactions, we are trying to be a member of the group," a MoF official said.