The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) and the police jointly arrested a man on charges of laundering Tk 1,396.14 crore.
Md Shahidul Alam, 56, was apprehended from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Saturday while trying to flee to Italy.
There are 29 money laundering cases against Shahidul, and he is the mastermind behind laundering Tk 1396.14 crore, said the CIID’s Joint Director Manas Kumar Barman.
Shahidul with the help of his accomplices used fake names, addresses, documents, trade licences, Income Tax Certificates (TIN), VAT Registration Certificates or Business Identification Numbers (BIN) and Import Registration Certificates (IRC) to import high-duty liquor, cigarettes, LED TVs, powdered milk, and photocopiers under false import permission of machinery, the joint director said in a press release on Sunday.
The accused used four of his fake companies--Messrs AgroBD & JP, Henan Anhui Agro LC, Hebra Branco and China BDL—to evade huge sums of customs duty and laundered crores of money, added the release.
Among the 29 cases against Shahidul, nine were filed against Messrs AgroBD & JP for laundering Tk 439.11 crore.
Besides, seven cases each were filed against Hebra Branco and China BDL for laundering Tk 290.89 crore and Tk 234.39 crore respectively, while six cases were filed against Henan Anhui Agro LC for laundering Tk 429.11 crore.
Shahidul was handed over to the police and was produced before a Dhaka court on Saturday. The court ordered him to be sent to jail.
