The government needs to ensure swift disbursement and prevent misuse of funds to mitigate the effects of coronavirus pandemic in the country, says a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) report.
Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an organization working to combat money laundering and terrorist financing internationally, advised Bangladesh regulators to be vigilant in preventing corruption and laundering involved in processing and disbursing these funds.
It said the identities of the customer or receiving organization must be confirmed before disbursing such funds. It is necessary to know about the transparency of the activities of the concerned organization in case of waiving the grant money, FATF report said.
Coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new challenge in financial management, the FATF report said.
State agencies have provided aid money, medicine and other essential items to the various sections of the society in the past months which created scopes for money laundering and graft, the report added.
According to sources, steps have been taken to increase the flow of funds in all sectors of the country to take all possible measures to curb corruption and irregularities in this regard.
As per the international anti money laundering regulatory report, if the authorities are able to maintain financial transparency at this moment of crisis then it will be easier to reach doorsteps of the actual pandemic hit section of the society.
This will reduce the tendency of money laundering in the country and in turn will reduce the risk of financing terrorism elsewhere in the world.
The report called on financial intelligence and law enforcement agencies of the government to take actions in preventing such crimes.
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