Originally posted in New Age on 26 May 2022
Amnesty likely for bringing back smuggled money
Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday said that the government was planning to bring back money smuggled out of the country to ease the current dollar crisis.
Amnesty may be announced for those who will bring back such money to the country, he said after a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs.
Answering a question about the possible amount of money that has been smuggled out the country, the finance minister said that no calculation was made.
It has been learnt from different sources, including media reports, that there has long been capital flight from the country, he said.
According to a Global Financial Integrity report released in January 2019, the illicit capital outflow went unabated as $5.9 billion, about Tk 50,000 crore, was siphoned off from Bangladesh in 2015 and a total of $81.74 billion was smuggled out of the country from 2006 to 2016.
The finance minister said that they wanted to get back all the money.
Former Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed said that such opportunities may be offered for a limited period to tackle the high demand for dollars.
He also said that the central bank must ask for the source of money.
The finance minister said that an announcement would be made in the upcoming budget that a certain amount of tax would be charged on the money to be brought back.
Centre for Policy Dialogue distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya said that such a government plan was not acceptable at all.
He said that they would soon hold a detailed discussion on the issue of capital flight.
The finance minister explained that the government was taking the move to tackle the current dollar crisis amid surging import payments following hikes in the prices of commodities like fuel oils, fertiliser and food items on the global market because of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
He, however, affirmed that the current dollar crisis in the country should not be likened to that of other South Asian countries.
Bangladesh has already taken a series of measures to slow down the demand for import to safeguard the foreign currency reserve.
The measures include the imposition of letter of credit margins up to 75 per cent to discourage import of luxury and unnecessary items.
Besides, regulatory duty has been imposed on about 135 imported items.
The BB has been devaluing local currency Taka against the US dollar after the foreign currency reserve fell below $42 billion early May from $48 billion in last August.
The central bank is also now overlooking the requirement of documents with the inflow of remittance to the tune of $5,000 and above.
The finance minister said that the BB would announce further measures ahead of the budget for the return of the money siphoned out of the country.
Former National Board of Revenue chair Muhammad Abdul Mazid said that the proposed opportunity should be offered with conditions of disclosing the sources of the money and with penalty.
Otherwise, he said, it will be an injustice to the honest taxpayers.
Answering whether the opportunity will be popular, the finance minister hoped that it would be a good opportunity to bring the money back home.
He added that Indonesia had received a good response after offering amnesty for repatriating laundered money.
The national budget is scheduled to be announced in the parliament on June 9.
Mustafizur Rahman, also a distinguished CPD fellow, too, said that the move was highly unethical as smuggling of money itself was a crime.
‘What would happen in the case of former NRB Global Bank managing director Prasanta Kumar Halder who has reportedly laundered a lion’s share of the Tk 10,000 crore he has allegedly embezzled?’ he questioned.
In 2020, the High Court was annoyed with the Anti-Corruption Commission for its failure to identify the government officials, politicians, businesspeople and others who were involved in laundering money to Canada.
A virtual bench of the High Court, comprising Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Ahmed Sohel, later again sought detailed reports on those involved in siphoning money abroad, including to Canada, the USA and Australia.
In last January, the High Court directed the head of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit to submit details of individuals and business entities, who allegedly smuggled out and kept their money in Swiss and other foreign banks.
The court also asked the chair of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the head of the Criminal Investigation Department to submit progress reports on the probes into alleged money laundering and investment in offshore companies by the individuals and business entities, whose names appeared in leaked Panama Papers and Paradise Papers.