Home ›› 11 Apr 2023 ›› Front
The Anti-Corruption Commission has started an enquiry into allegations of money laundering against 549 Bangladeshis who are staying in Dubai on golden visas.
The anti-graft body decided to carry out an enquiry over the allegations at a meeting held last week at its headquarters in the capital’s Segunbagicha.
A three-member enquiry committee led by its deputy director Ram Prasad Mondal was formed to conduct enquiry over the allegations. The other two members are deputy directors Md Ahsan Uddin and Md Ismail Hossain, ACC officials said.
The move followed a January 15 High Court order to launch an investigation over the allegations of money laundering.
When asked, ACC Commissioner Dr Mozammel Haque Khan on Monday said, “We received an allegation that some Bangladeshis have laundered money abroad and they purchased properties in Dubai under its golden visa facility.
Scrutinising the allegations, the commission decided to conduct an enquiry, he said adding that the commission has already started a probe and the next course of action will be taken based on the findings.
There are allegations that a large amount of money was laundered to different banks including Swiss banks by the 549 Bangladeshis. Later it was transferred to Dubai and allegedly used to purchase 172 properties under the golden visa facility offered by the United Arab Emirates.
In May last year, a US-based non-profit organisation Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADC) published a research paper, highlighting that Bangladeshis bought housing assets with money that was laundered mainly in Gulf countries.
It said around 459 Bangladeshis have purchased 972 properties in Dubai till 2020, concealing the information in their own country.
Bangladeshis have purchased properties worth approximately US $1 billion during this period, making them one of the top buyers in the real estate sector of Dubai, said the report Experts believe that huge amounts of money are being transferred due to the lack of effective and strong measures to stop money laundering, it said.
Meanwhile, the High Court on January 15 ordered four agencies, including the Anti-Corruption Commission, to launch an investigation over the allegation.
The other agencies are– the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by advocate Subir Nandi attaching a report published in a national daily.
It asked the four agencies to submit the progress report within a month. The court also issued a rule asking why the inaction of the authorities concerned should not be declared illegal.
