Ten ready-made garment (RMG) entities laundered Tk 300 crore in the name of exports, according to latest findings of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID).
Confirming the matter, CIID Joint Director Shamsul Arefin Khan on Monday said exporters colluded with some C&F agents and siphoned off the huge sums of money from Bangladesh to abroad.
Furthermore, he said, due to the non-functionality of the Export Monitoring System (EXP), there is no legal mechanism for repatriating this foreign currency to the country, thereby facilitating organised money laundering.
According to the CIID, Pragya Fashion Ltd, Fashion Trade, MDS Fashion, Hong Kong Fashions Ltd, Three-Star Trading, Fortune Fashion, Anupom Fashion Wear Ltd, Pixy Knit Wears Ltd, Stylize BD Ltd, and Eden Style Tex were involved in the money laundering scheme.
These companies shipped 1,921 tonnes of apparel products to the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, France, Canada, Russia, Slovenia, Panama and other parts of the world in 1,234 consignments.
The process of taking legal action against the 10 companies is underway, Arefin said.
The CIID said it received complaints that goods were being exported through the Chittagong port with fraudulent documents, but the foreign exchange was not being repatriated.
The exporters forged the bill of exports and exported goods using the Bangladesh Bank's Export Monitoring System (EXP) of other exporters. Investigations also revealed a lack of consistency between the bills of export and EXP information of the 10 implicated institutions.
The customs intelligence had recently exposed a similar scam, where four institutions were involved in the laundering of Tk 379 crore.
