Home ›› 16 Mar 2022 ›› Front
A wide array of suspicious transactions and rogue financing activities were spotted that rose by 43.67 per cent in the last fiscal year, according to the reports received by the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU).
An increased fraudulent activity in e-commerce and MLM business and various other reasons are attributed to the rise in the suspicion.
The anti-money laundering agency released the annual report 2020-21 in a view exchange meeting with the journalists at the Bangladesh Bank head office on Tuesday morning.
BFIU Head Md Masud Biswas was the chief guest in the meeting while BFIU Deputy General Manager Kamal Hossain presented the report. BFIU General Manager ABM Zahurul Huda and other officials of the government agency were present.
Md Masud Biswas said the rising trend of STR and SAR does not mean that the suspicious transactions and activities have increased sharply.
“We received more report than before due to the growing awareness and capacity of the reporting organisations like banks, insurances and other organisations,” he added.
He, however, skipped answering several questions of journalists.
Asked why he is shying away from answering the specific questions, Masud said they have some limitations as the anti-money laundering agency is working on sensitive issues.
Replying to a question, BFIU Deputy General Manager Kamal Hossain said money laundering is taking place in the country, and the BFIU has some information in this regard but it cannot be disclosed.
Md Masud Biswasl, however, admitted that the country’s electronic and print media are playing a major role in helping the BFIU to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation of financing for weapons.
The BFIU received 5,280 suspicious transaction reports (STR) and suspicious activity reports (SAR) in FY 2020-21, which was 3,675 in FY 2019-20.
Of the total STR and SAR, 2,696 were STR and 2,584 were SAR in FY 2020-21.
The report said capacity development, increased awareness of the reporting organisations and the government stance on zero tolerance against corruption were another reasons behind the rise in suspicious transactions.
The majority of STR and SAR had been received from the banking sector.
The BFIU received 4,495 STR and SAR from the banking sector. Money remitters were the second highest reporting organisations that have lodged 670 STRs and SARs to the BFIU in FY 2020-21.
Cash Transaction Report (CTR)
Banks have submitted 20.57 million transactions (Tk 14,436.21 billion) in CTR whereas the NBFIs have submitted 1,267 transactions (Tk 2.08 billion), as per the BFIU report. Due to the pandemic, the number and volume of cash transactions decreased in FY 2019-20.
As the Covid-19 situation improved in FY 2020-21, the number and volume of cash transactions went up significantly.
