ACC to ink deals with 8 countries

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has initiated a process to sign agreements with eight countries for mutual legal assistance in bringing back money laundered from Bangladesh.

The countries are Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and Thailand.

As part of this initiative, a committee led by Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has already been formed, said ACC Secretary Mahbub Hossain on Tuesday. 

The committee also consists of officials from other government organisations concerned, he said while talking to journalists at the ACC headquarters in the capital.

Mahbub said the committee will submit the draft agreement to the Financial Institutions Division within the next three weeks.

The ACC secretary also said the anti-graft watchdog on September 12 last year requested the Cabinet Division to sign mutual legal assistance agreements for collecting evidence, records of money laundering from the above-mentioned countries. In addition, the agreements will also help with the recovery money laundered to these eight countries.

The request letter along with a reply from BFIU has also been sent to the Financial Institutions Division.

Later on November 1, a meeting was held with participation of ACC officials and other departments concerned. The meeting decided to form a committee headed by BFIU and consisting of officials from other organisations to make a draft of the agreement.

ACC Secretary Mahbub said if those countries agree under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, then the process of collecting evidence and records will be easy.

Through this, the way to recover the laundered money will be easier, he added.

Meanwhile, the High Court on 26 October ordered BFIU to sign mutual legal assistance pacts with 10 countries within three months for obtaining information and proof required to recover black money stashed abroad.

The court gave the order soon after the BFIU submitted a progress report to the court in the form of an affidavit, outlining an intention to repatriate laundered money through Mutual Legal Assistance treaties with 10 countries.