TIB calls upon govts of host countries to help Bangladesh

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has reiterated its call upon governments of the destination countries to take concrete actions to help Bangladesh expedite the return of stolen assets as part of their international commitments and responsibility.

The anti-graft watchdog made the call given the continued national and international media disclosures of the accumulation of wealth in some countries by profiling publicly exposed Bangladeshis of the fallen regime.

The richer and so-called developed countries are the main destinations and beneficiaries of the lion's share of Bangladesh’s laundered money, TIB says in a statement issued on Thursday.

In the statement, TIB Executive Director (ED) Dr Iftekharuzzaman said conventional hosts of money laundering like the UK, USA and proverbial Switzerland have been joined in recent couple of decades by Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Hong, Malaysia, Middle East countries like UAE, especially Dubai and even many offshore island territories as attractive hosts of Bangladeshi laundered money.

“In each destination of illicit transfers, there are powerful syndicates of highly skilled law firms, trust companies, offshore specialists, real estate agents, accountants, regulatory experts, and banking and financial services companies that facilitate the secret deals. These syndicates have systematically strengthened the demand side over the years, and by providing safe and lucrative incentives to our money launderers contributed to flows of investments in host economies in multiple sectors, especially real estate, banking and luxury consumption,” he said.

In some cases, these are outcomes of relevant government policies or policy loopholes, whether deliberate or not, he said adding many such countries have been persistently keeping provisions to invest laundered money by various means like trusts, real estate, investment passports, etc.

“If not by policy provisions or loopholes in policies, enforcement deficiencies have helped the creation of heavens for the money laundering facilitators who have been systematically incentivizing money launderers of Bangladesh,” he further stated.

TIB called upon governments of the host countries of Bangladesh’s laundered money like UK, USA, Canada, Dubai and Singapore to:

1. Proactively identify and freeze any illegal assets owned by Bangladeshi nationals or entities in their respective jurisdictions;
2. Take immediate actions to dismantle and hold to account syndicates facilitators of accumulation of money and wealth through illicit transfers;
3. Cooperate with the government of Bangladesh to start and expedite the process of repatriation of the stolen assets and hold the money launderers to account through the available international processes including mutual legal assistance and technical support;
4. Contribute to building the necessary professional and international capacity of relevant Bangladeshi state agencies, especially ACC, BFIU, CID, NBR and Attorney General’s Office; and
5. Collaborate and coordinate with other above-mentioned host countries of Bangladesh’s laundered money to take similar actions.

The burden of responsibility to prevent, control and bring back laundered money lies mainly on Bangladesh’s shoulders, but it is also no less a responsibility of countries or territories where the laundered money from Bangladesh has been invested and thereby helped the host economies, it added.